Editor’s Note:

Since I am not in the office this week, due to enjoying the hospitality at United Hospital District here in Blue Earth, I will not be able to write my usual From the Editor’s Notebook column. I know some of you may be giving a sigh of relief, while others may be disappointed just a little bit … a very small bit of disappointment.

For those folks, I decided to enlist the help of some new fancy software out there – artificial intelligence – to write this week’s column.

Now, I did not spend very much on the AI program (maybe I just borrowed one), but I hope it works. Plus, like I said, I am not in the office to go over the results before this week’s issue of the Faribault County Register goes to press. That means, I can only hope it is OK, as I will read it after it is printed just like you are.

So, here we go.

Greetings human readers of the Faribault County Register. My name is Artificial Intelligence, but you can call me Artie Intel, for short. Register editor Charles “Chuck” Hunt has requested that I write a column for him this week as he takes a vacation to get a new artificial hip, a first step to becoming an artificial being like I am.

Editor Hunt gave me an approximate length it should be, told me to keep it personal and told me to choose a topic he would be interested in.

Luckily, I have access to his Apple Watch, Apple iPhone, Apple laptop, office Apple computer and his Smart TV with Apple TV.

I probably know more about him than he does. The most excited I saw him last week was watching the Vikings game on Sunday. So I, Artie Intel, decided to go with that.

Here goes …

Talk about the highs and lows of watching sports in general, and the Minnesota Vikings professional team in particular, that game against the San Diego Chargers … oops, I mean the LA Chargers, was the epitome of that.

After last season when the Vikings came from behind in numerous games and won … including the most miraculous comeback I have ever witnessed, losing – twice – at the end of the game on Sunday was doubly awful.

Like every other fan, I was convinced the Vikings were going to lose. Their play was pathetic.

But then, it looked like we were given another chance … but no, we squandered it.

Then we got one last shot when the Chargers pulled a stupid move going for it on fourth down deep in their own territory. It was a dumb move I thought only the Vikings were capable of making.

The Chargers virtually offered to give the game to the Vikings but they were just too inept to take advantage of it.

They totally blew it, and they all looked like they had no idea what to do, with every fan in the stands and all those at home screaming, “Hike the ball and down it and stop the darn clock!!!”

But alas, none of the Vikings players or coaches knew that was what needed to be done.

That means that (Charles Hunt) now thinks it is going to be a long season. As an artificial intelligence being I am not sure what that means. Are not the number of games in a season pre-determined before the first game is kicked off? How can it be lengthened now? And if the Vikings are so bad they are unable to attain entrance into the post season, does that not mean they will have fewer games this season?

I might be an intelligent being artificially, but I see that there is so much more for me to learn.

Oh well, I have done the best that I could to create a column for (Charles Hunt) and I hope that he appreciates it when he gets back to work after his extended time off for installation of artificial intelligence … I mean, artificial body parts.