Welcome back, Taiter

I didn't realize until this morning that the Cavaliers even had a game last night, much less that Joe Tait, the longtime voice of the Cavs, had returned for it. That, of course, is a function of the relentless patheticity of the Cavaliers this year, combined with the fact that I'm now an engineering student with a wife and kids, and not much time for such things. I haven't even watched much March Madness this year. (No, patheticity is not a word. So I guess I made it up. But I'm not going to compare myself to Shakespeare.)

Anyway, I'm glad to see Tait's back behind the mic. He is in many ways the greatest Cavalier of them all, even though he's never contributed to the Cavs winning (or losing) a single game -- because he HAS contributed to our enjoyment of those games, which is worth an awful lot. And he's been in the broadcast booth for all but a couple of years of the team's four-decade history. He's called the Miracle of Richfield, the 2007 Finals, The Shot, and a whole lot of terrible, terrible basketball. And more important than the fact that we get to hear him call four more games (he will not travel with the team) is the fact that he's able to work again, five months after heart surgery.

It's somehow fitting that the Cavs got awful again just before Tait retired, considering all the lousy teams he's had a front-row seat for. There is no question that he will deliver the same professional, high-quality play-by-play he has always given us, regardless of how crappy the product on the floor is.