It appears that Dan McLaughlin will find out if he'll be back in the Cardinals' TV booth in the next week or so. And while his return looked like a long shot in the weeks shortly after he was arrested in late September on his second drunken driving charge in 13 months, all indications now are that he has a good chance of being retained.
Fox Sports Midwest general manager Jack Donovan was extremely angry when he found out about the latest of those arrests and immediately suspended McLaughlin, although the move was mostly symbolic because he already had finished his Cards schedule and had no other FSM assignments pending.
"We take this matter very seriously,'' Donovan said then.
Donovan is the primary decision-maker in the matter, probably with input from Fox corporate officials and the Cards, and he could not be reached to comment. But logic says the longer the process goes, the better the odds are of McLaughlin being retained — for at least two reasons.
• First, it would have been easiest to fire him quickly when it was a fresh topic. And if a replacement has to be found it would be advantageous to make it known the job is open as soon as possible. And if it would be a newcomer from out of town, that person would want some lead to time get settled — spring training broadcasts are only a little more than three months away.
• Second, working in McLaughlin's favor is that he has been extremely up front about his situation, not holding back about criticizing himself in a recent STLtoday.com interview when he addressed his troubles and seemed sincere.
"I'm an alcoholic, and I'm not ashamed to say that because I needed help in a bad way,'' he said in that conversation. "Through what's happened, it's turning my life around. That's the truth.''
And regarding his job, he was realistic when asked if he deserves to be retained:
"I don't necessarily know if I should, because I hold a position of which I represent not just myself but many,'' he said. "I respect those people and I understand this is a very hard decision for them. I can only hope for forgiveness and the chance to turn a very bad circumstance into a tremendous positive and to gain their trust back.. ... It's not just employers, it's everybody (who) I have to show every day that I'm taking the right steps to battle this disease and to battle it aggressively. As I've learned, this is day by day. There are no guarantees. I've got to hope and pray that (my employers) see what I'm doing and have faith in me.''
To that end McLaughlin said he has gone through rehab, has his legal issues related to the matter resolved and attends meetings daily regarding his alcoholism. And this week he said he's glad he opened up about his missteps.
"Response from people who saw it has been overwhelming,'' he said. "People I don't even know have stopped me on the street and wished me well. I wasn't going to sit back and lie about (my failures), make stuff up. I put everybody in a terrible position, including me.''
Rick Horton, who sometimes serves as the analyst when McLauglin is doing play-by-play, said he's pulling for his colleague.
"I'm very happy to see Dan taking the steps he's taking,'' said Horton, who also is FSM's play-by-play voice when McLaughlin isn't present. "I really believe he's making great strides to grow personally. I'm thrilled for him. He's an incredibly talented broadcaster. I look forward to working with him.''
MEYERS ON MIZZOU
It looks as if Saturday's Mizzou-Kansas game in Kansas City will be the finale in the long and storied rivalry between the teams for the foreseeable future, and native St. Louisan and MU grad Joel Meyers will do the play-by-play on Fox Sports Nets' national telecast of the game (FSM locally).
Meyers, who will work with analyst Brian Baldinger and reporter Jim Knox, said the probable end of the series will be a big theme of the telecast "from the very beginning.
"We're going to open the show with how great it has been and we hope it can continue,'' he said. "And I truly believe it can, so I'm hoping Kansas backs off from what we've heard already'' about wanting to halt the rivalry because MU is moving to the Southeastern Conference. "You can't blame Mizzou for wanting stability.''
He pointed to lagging ticket sales for Saturday's game at Arrowhead Stadium and suggested that the MU-KU contest could be played in St. Louis.
The rivalry "means a lot to all of us in the Big 12, the old Big Eight, and everybody who grew up in the conference,'' he said. "It's such a great traditional rivalry that you don't want to see it end. If Kansas backs off what they said earlier, it could continue. And why wouldn't it? I've got to believe if it was in St. Louis it would (have) a lot more in the ballpark.
"St. Louis is a Mizzou town whereas Kansas City is somewhat divided. Yeah, Illinois still means something in the St. Louis market — but it's not like Mizzou, Mizzou dominates St. Louis. If you had the game in St. Louis on a regular basis, and even if you went back and forth with Arrowhead, I think you'd see a full stadium in St. Louis.''
Meyers is in college mode year-round now after having broadcast the Los Angeles Lakers for the last eight seasons, the first on radio then seven on television. But he was dropped after last season as one of many sweeping personnel changes in the organization.
But Meyers won't have to head to the unemployment line. He has picked up a full college basketball schedule for Fox Sports Net, mostly Pac-12 games — which is convenient for him because he still lives in the Los Angeles area.
"It's great the way it's worked,'' Meyers said. "The Fox guys have been great to me.''
His last extended work in St. Louis came in 2002, when he was hired to broadcast Cards road games on the radio because Jack Buck was in semi-retirement and had decided not to travel.
But Buck didn't broadcast a home game either, as he became ill before that season and never recovered before dying that June. Buck's son Joe helped fill in on home games before Meyers was made the full-time replacement while juggling other assignments. But his other work plus family obligations precluded him moving back to St. Louis full time the following year, and the job working alongside Mike Shannon went to Wayne Hagin and now is held by John Rooney.
"The timing wasn't good for me (for the long term), but I loved working with Mike,'' Meyers said. "It was truly one of the great experiences of my career working with him. He was a great person to work with, I could have done that forever with Mike.''
Now he'll be in the booth Saturday for what could be a historic afternoon for MU and KU.
"That's going to be fun,'' he said. "It's going to be bittersweet for all of us, isn't it? I hate to see it go. I can't wait to do the game, I mean that sincerely.''
IN THE BOOTHS
Broadcasters for the other major area football games this:
Illinois at Minnesota, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Big Ten Network • Tom Hart (play-by-play), Derek Rackley (analysis), Lisa Byington (reporter).
Arizona at Rams, noon Sunday, KTVI (2) • Sam Rosen (play-by-play), Chad Pennington (analysis), Tina Cervasio (reporter).
