Last Tuesday, there was play-by-play for Mizzou and Iowa State. Wednesday was Virginia at Boston College. This past weekend, he was in St. Louis to host a Hall-of-Fame breakfast for the Valley, and to broadcast two quarterfinal games Friday and two semifinal games Saturday.

And with all he does, there’s still a lot of time for his wife and four kids.

“Everybody says to me, 'You must never see your kids.' I see them a ton because they’re not in school full-time. I am home during the day and the games are at night,” he said.

Starting Thursday, to add to his versatility, McLaughlin will call the Missouri State 5A basketball games from Mizzou Arena on Fox Sports Midwest. Although Cardinals’ baseball is his first choice, championship basketball at any level is right up there.

“One of the neatest games I’ve ever called was when Tyler Hansbrough won a state title against Vashon. We did the game and had Vashon won, they would’ve finished number one in the country. Tyler Hansbrough put on a show that was just great theatre. These are kids and it means everything to them and everything to their schools. It’s one-game-takes-all. And to see that on the line is great. It really is some of the best theatre to watch especially if we have tight games no matter where we are,” McLaughlin said.

Where he is today depends upon the day. He begins his 10th season as play-by-play voice of the Cardinals for Fox Sports Midwest. But that won’t start until March 24. In between now and then, he’ll be sitting courtside.

McLaughlin started his broadcasting career at KMOX Radio while still in school. He was behind the mike in studio but knew he wanted to call games.

“It was something I always wanted to do (baseball play-by-play). I grew up in south St. Louis and just always wanted to do it. I played sports in high school (Vianney) and played baseball at Lindenwood. They had a great program in communication and here I am today,” said McLaughlin.

He walked into FSMW looking to do features. Right out of the gate, his first feature was nominated for an “Emmy” award.

“I just happened to have a relationship with Jack Buck and decided to do the feature on him. He was phenomenal. I happened to have a great editor, great shooter and Jack gave me wonderful stuff. It really worked out well and put me on the map with FSMW,” he said.

McLaughlin was approached about hosting Blues games. They later added the play-by-play for the Cardinals games with Fox Sports and 10 years later, he is waiting for the 2010 schedule to begin.

This season, the Blues brought in Darren Pang and moved Bernie Federko between the benches. McLaughlin moved to calling college football and basketball games to fill the schedule.

He worked for ESPN, and the Missouri Sports Network doing a handful of Tigers’ games, as well as games from the Missouri Valley, ACC, Big East and the Big 12. all the while seeing some of the best teams in the country.

“A good atmosphere of college basketball is so fun to be a part of. Take a game like Georgetown against Pittsburgh where the Hoyas went into Pitt and snapped their 34 game home-winning streak. I called that game and just the atmosphere of it and to see “big time” basketball is incredible," McLaughlin said.

“And you see the people like the Valley doing their games; it’s like a Super Bowl every time out for them. Every game is so important because wins and losses are so important. Teams in the Big East, etc, can afford a loss or two because of strength of schedule.”

The Missouri Tigers, one of the teams he’s called games for, are out of the Big 12 tournament with Wednesday’s loss in the first round. Who does McLaughlin think is the best team in college basketball today?

“I think now I’d probably have to go with Syracuse,” said McLaughlin. “I did the game for Jim Boeheim’s 800th win. In fact, I did Syracuse games twice and their defense is so good and they’re so long and athletic. I’ve seen Kentucky. I’ve seen Kansas. I would have to go with Syracuse because not many people are accustomed to attacking the zone defense that they put out there.”