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Let’s face it, we’ve become a culture obsessed with Super Bowl commercials as opposed to the actual action on the field.  Every year, we expect to see visual brilliance delivered by marketing geniuses from worldwide beverage and automobile brands.  Oh, and definitely under-produced commercials from local real estate moguls. Wait, what?

Yessir, Tony La Russa and Ray Vinson were miraculously reunited midway through the 3Q of Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday night. It didn’t make any sense, but then again, it’s not like previous installments of Vinson Mortgage commercials were the beacon of cinematic excellence.

Frankly, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around this one.

First and foremost, it’s a shame that this commercial was one of the rare local network offerings played during the Super Bowl – meaning, the national audience didn’t see it.  The country deserves Ray Vinson and his absurd commercial.  Likewise for Don Brown and his Christmas jacket.

A few things…

1.) The handheld, organic montage of St. Louis looks very familiar to Chrysler’s commercial with Eminem that debuted during last year’s Super Bowl.  Like Chrysler, Team Vinson had the enviable task of capturing the urban essence by leveraging tight shots, instead of fish-eye pans that revealed a cornucopia of graffiti and murder.

2.) “Seize the moment” is the message sprinkled throughout this installment.  Is that ANOTHER veiled Eminem reference?  We think so.  This time, it’s a signature lyric from the Detroit native’s hit song “Sing For The Moment“.  While the crime in St. Louis and Detroit are near replicas, Tony La Russa is no Slim Shady.  But, wait.  La Russa is almost always wearing shades.  Naw, that’s too obscure.  Then again, so is a budding bromance between a local mortgage lender and a Hall of Fame manager.

And with that, we formally begin our search to find the meathead that played Albert Pujols in the video above.