I read in today's Plain Dealer an article written by the well-respected Cleveland journalist Terry Pluto. The article talks about Cleveland Cavaliers radio broadcaster Joe Tait's upcoming surgery, which has been keeping Tait out of action in what is to be his final season handling the radio duties for the Cavs. It got me to thinking about what games are going to sound like without Tait broadcasting. He has been the radio voice of the Cavs my entire life, and save for one season, the entire existence of the franchise itself.
It got me to thinking about the play of Cleveland's Big Three in the 80s, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance and Mark Price. Then you had the Gund Arena era starting with Terrell Brandon, Chris Mills, Bobby Phills (Rest in Peace) of the mid-90s, up through the much maligned Shawn Kemp years. We had our dark period in the late 90s to early 2000s with Zydrunas Illgauskas hurting his foot every season, Wrong-Way Ricky Davis fabricating triple-doubles and putting the ball in the hands of Smush Parker, Darius Miles and Lamond Murray. Finally we broke through with the LeBron Sweepstakes and enjoyed 7 tremendous seasons that saw the Cavs' first NBA Finals appearance. Through it all, there has been one constant: Joe Tait.
"(Insert Player's Name) WHAM with a right hand!", "Three-ball, GOT IT", "He hit it", and the famous "Over the timeline, into the fortcourt". These saying have been replicated but never duplicated by anyone else. When I was younger and the Cavs were on the West Coast, Joe Tait was there into the late hours of the night. Whenever I'm driving to the store or to a friend's house to watch the game, Tait was in the passenger seat. Friends of mine that are from Cleveland now living elsewhere muse about how jealous they are that we can still listen to our favorite sayings. There's one thing us Cavs fans had to look forward to each season, and that was another 82+ games of Joe Tait describing the game of basketball to us better than any other city's radio.
To us who were Cavs fans from our youth, we were raised by Joe Tait in the sports sense. Now that we are all adults, it's harder to realize that one day he'll be off the air because he's been apart of our lives for so long. Those of you who are Cleveland Indians fans may feel the same way about Tribe radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton, and the late Nev Chandler who was the Browns' radio broadcaster in the late 80s. I was a very young Browns fan at the time, but I still remember his trademark "To the ten, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Touchdown Browns!" My grandfather would turn down the TV so we could listen to Chandler describe what we were watching.
You feel a better sense of loyalty to radio broadcasters because they are always available. Some games are not televised, so you don't have much of a choice but to listen to the radio. It's up to the radio broadcaster to paint that sweet scene of the sports venue, to the colors and trim of the players' uniforms, even describing which side a team is moving based on your radio dial. You always know the score and the time, as well as random stats that fill slow spots in the game. And we in Cleveland have been lucky enough to enjoy the best of the best with Joe Tait.
The Cavs have been covered on the radio thus far with Mike Snyder and former center Jim Chones. They have done a good job, but it's not what I'm used to hearing. However, I believe it is better that we get a taste of life without Tait now before he's actually gone. When he hopefully returns from a successful surgery, we'll be able to take it in for one last time. We'll be able to say our last goodbyes to him like he will to us and provide us with our closure. As is the case with most good things in life, never take anything for granted.
In the final words of the Cavs postgame radio show, I close with Tait's final line: "Have a good night, Everybody."
Great entry Ed. I couldn't have said it better. Living in Baltimore now I don't get to hear Tait's voice, but the way you described it brought it all back for me. Thanks man!
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