So… it is one of the assignments I give to myself each and every year. Choosing the Top 10 Stories of the Year list, which runs this last week of the year, every year.

It involves going through every issue of the Faribault County Register for the whole year and making a list of every single story of any importance in each and every edition. It takes me a long time, usually most of one full weekend, to do this each year.

(Side bar… there are some ladies in my life who suggest that a smart person would be making this list all year long, so as not to have to do it all in one weekend. They are right, of course, but they don’t understand this is how I have always done it. And I never claimed to be a smart guy, only a smart aleck guy.)

So… this is how I came to be spending last weekend, Dec. 17-18, with a stack of 52 newspapers and a legal pad and the chore of going through each one writing down all of the stories of any importance on the legal pad.

It was slow going, as I was distracted by other things which had to be done.

Like watching the Minnesota Vikings game on a Saturday, not Sunday, when they played the Baltimore – I’m sorry – Indianapolis Colts. I had told myself that I could look through the newspapers and watch the game at the same time, but I knew I was lying to myself.

So… the first half of the game, as you probably well know, was the biggest debacle in Vikings history. Anything and everything that could go wrong in a football game, did go wrong for the Vikes. By halftime they were behind 33-0. I had exhausted myself yelling at the TV, moaning and groaning and cursing the stupid Vikings, and I had not even made it through the first two weeks of January issues of the Register.

Like many other fans, I was convinced this game was going to end up worse than the awful performance against Dallas. This game had the potential of being 66-0 – or worse.

I told myself I was going to keep the game on, but I was going to start working on reading through all of the newspapers stacked up beside me. I am sure many others were upset and quit watching it at halftime and fans at the game were probably leaving U.S. Bank Stadium in disgust.

But then, it was a Minnesota Miracle. I could not believe my eyes. The Vikings offense started to move the ball. The defense began to stop the Colts’ scoring stampede, and the Vikes actually had another goal line stand.

Could the Vikings really pull this off, I asked myself. Of course not, I figured, but maybe they could make it a decent score at the end and it would not be such a huge embarrassment.

But then, it happened. They kept the momentum up. They couldn’t be stopped, even with the refs taking back two obvious defensive touchdowns. The Vikes came back and tied it, then won it in overtime, even if most of us thought they would not, and we covered our eyes during the field goal attempt. I mean, Viking kickers have been known to miss…

There are hardly any words to describe it. Unbelievable, amazing, fantastic, incredible and many others come close, but miraculous is the best one I think.

So… this is why it came to me in an obvious moment of extreme euphoria that this astounding Vikings victory over the Colts is the No. 1 story of 2022, and I added it to the list.

I added others then too. Stories like the Ugliest House in America being in Blue Earth and featured on TV. A murder in Blue Earth from years ago being featured on cable TV. A Ukrainian family coming to Blue Earth. An interview with a dog. A Fair Fox mascot causing a Furry frenzy. And chickens and bees being the hot topic at council meetings.

Eventually I came down off the high I was on and spent much of Sunday creating an actual list. I realized the Vikings game was not something to be on a list of Top 10 things happening in Faribault County. But it definitely leads the list of Top 10 Vikings football games, and it tops the list of biggest comebacks in NFL history.

I scratched off some of the other items I had on the potential list, but as you can see, chickens and bees stayed on the final Top 10 List. You may think different things should have been on the list, or in different order, and you might be right.

So… maybe this year I will be smart and start making the Top 10 potential story list starting next week and keep it going every week through the year. Like most of my New Years Resolutions, I doubt it will even get started. And besides, what fun would that be.