Is this the face of Minnesota now?

In case you hadn’t heard, Minneapolis will be hosting the Super Bowl next month. There is a chance that the Vikings could even be in it, which is exciting for local fans, and a first of it' kind event in the NFL, but regardless of who appears in the game, it will be a touchstone event for the city, with

ramifications for a generation.

With an eye on the city, you can bet that the national TV cameras will be looking for an ambassador, especially one who holds the Vikings near and dear to their heart. With that in mind, undoubtedly, cameras will turn to the most famous, most ardent Vikings fan around.

Nick Swardson

As a qualifier, I should say that Swardson is undoubtedly the most ardent, famous Viking fan out there. Certainly, there are other Vikings fans, though not as vociferous, in the celebrity community. Nobody tops Swardson for his forthright allegiance. This isn't a great look for the state of Minnesota.

The problem in general is a lack of interest in Minnesota sports from Minnesota celebrities. If you look around the internet for most famous fans of particular teams, you will find one CBS.com article that calls Craig Kilborn the most famous fan of the Timberwolves, Swardson of the Vikings and Bleacher Report suggests  Josh Hartnett for the Twins with Kris Humphries, a basketball player, second.

Prince passed away last year, but was a much more renowned figure in Minnesota and in Vikings fandom, but other Minnesotan celebrities seem to have a casual disregard for Minnesota sports. Andrew Zimmern owns some concessionaries at the various stadiums around town, but good luck getting him to a game or chatting about the teams when he isn't there. I'm not sure Bob Dylan follows sports.

There are, of course, other celebrities in the Twin Cities that have a national presence, like Josh Hartnett or Kevin Sorbo (I guess), but they are just as distanced from Minnesota athletics as the previous examples, and surely not as active on social media, for better or worse.

So Swardson is the main event. Oh, I'm sorry,  we've made it this deep into the post, and you don’t know Nick Swardson? Let me try to You might recognize him and not know it. He is the late joining member of Adam Sandler's crew, the one who joined right around the time Sandler stopped creating anything innovative or funny. In fact, Nick Swardson's lone lead role is in the lowest rated movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes.

Swardson's career started as a stand up in the Twin Cities. He's not clever, not particularly witty, but he's always been affable, and seems like he must be a good guy to have in a circle of friends, but as a representative for your group? I mean, his most famous bit involves a ghost with flatulence. Not a hell of a lot of nuance there.

A look down his twitter timeline suggests a blind allegiance to the Vikings, which is excellent for the purposes of this piece, but also not so great because the Tweets are generally just SKOL with some emojis, or a crude expression of sexual gratification because of the success of the team.

For a famous person, Nick Swardson has an alarmingly low degree of talent, and is especially barren of the skills it would take to be any sort of ambassador for the city.

And now with the scandals besetting so many Minnesota figures, like the well spoken Al Franken and Garrison Keillor, there aren't even many revered candidates that simply have Minnesota ties, if not ties to the Vikings, that could step up and be the public face of Minnesota sports that make a whole lot of sense. None that are actively putting out fresh content, or are often in the public spotlight now.

Cameras during the game, and in the lead up to the game will be drawn to the shining stars that might represent the town. Given the successes of the team this season, the Vikings in the Super Bowl would further the demand for a local face to put on this event.

Jacob Frey or Melvin Carter, freshly elected mayors of the Twin Cities would be capable ambassadors, of course, as would Senator Amy Klobuchar or Governor Mark Dayton, but they don't possess the readymade celebrity of, well, readymade celebrities. They do have the ear of the people, however, which Swardson does not. That could be a useful tool as well.

Yes, Swardson, and probably Andrew Zimmern and a couple of other more tolerable celebrities will make TV appearances in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, but on the ground, the visitors will be interacting with us. With you and me. Sure, Swardson can get out there and give us a black eye, but people that come here, the international media and football fans the world over, and appreciate the hospitality organized by local leaders and provided by us. We can leave them with a good impression.

There will be a lot of new attention paid to the Twin Cities this February, as the Cities fill up with out of towners and media from across the world. If you ever want this kind of attention lavished on the Twin Cities again, it behooves Minnesotans everywhere to be on our best behavior, and ensuring that the cameras look to the city, rather than its celebrities.