ST. CLOUD — Jan. 29, 2018, will go down in Minnesota history as the night Stu Neuman broke the internet.

As Super Bowl LII approached, businesses all throughout the Twin Cities were brainstorming ways to stand out to visitors in a sea of football-crazed, Minnesota-centric advertising.

“Some people rented a whole block in Minneapolis to get their message out there,” Neuman, 47, said. “What we decided to do was have me write a blog post after two beers.”

Surly Brewing Co. went live with Neuman’s blog post “Welcome to Minnesota: A Primer” that fateful Monday night. When Neuman woke up the next morning there was chaos.

“Our website was broken because people kept sharing it on Facebook,” Neuman said. “We thought there was a bot attack from like, Slovenia or something, but it was that post.”

Neuman’s tongue-in-cheek, humorous take on Minnesota (and Minnesotans) at large had achieved what all web-based content creators hope for: viral fame. But this was hardly Neuman’s first brush with virtual celebrity.

The St. Cloud man and native Minnesotan (real name Steve Neuman) became somewhat regionally famous for leaving comments on Star Tribune digital sports editor Michael Rand’s RandBall blog, which eventually turned into a freelance gig under Rand. Neuman’s username and subsequent Twitter handle, RandBallStu, became synonymous with whip-smart commentary and it got him noticed.

Neuman had been an IT professional in downtown St. Cloud for 15 years, but his RandBallStu posts began to garner him freelance writing work. After losing both his IT position and a subsequent digital producer job at MPR, a friend introduced him to the folks at Minnesota’s premier craft brewery: Surly.

It was a match made in humor heaven.