Because he doesn't own a computer, and doesn't want one, the Cavaliers brought printouts of the emails he received to his home.

"I'm still in the Eisenhower administration, and I'm not coming out," he said. "It was amazing. We could have had the biggest bonfire in Medina County."

Tait's odyssey began Oct. 10 when he checked into a Houston hospital with a bout of pneumonia. He ended up having double-bypass surgery and heart valve replacement surgery on Jan. 7.

He said there was a difference of opinion as to whether he should return on Sunday for the Hawks game.

"There are mixed opinions in the medical world whether this was the smartest thing I've ever done in my life," he said. "I wanted to give it a shot."

He said the doctors had some reservations.

"(They were worried I'd) fall face first out of the (radio) perch and kill someone below," he joked.

"It will be interesting to see if my voice holds up the whole game," he said.

For the first time in years, he'll be working with an analyst. Jim Chones will handle the color commentary. They worked together on television years ago on Channels 19 and 43.

"I already told Chones, ‘Sit there and speak only when spoken to,' " he said. "There will not be any problem, unless he speaks when not spoken to. Then he might be the one falling out of the perch."

Tait, 73, received a loud ovation before the game when he was shown on the scoreboard TV screen.

He said it was important for him to go out on his terms. He's retiring at the end of the season. He joined the Cavs in 1970, their first year of existence.

"I wanted to go out standing up," he said. "I wanted to go out working as opposed to staying out there at the farm and letting the season end and not coming back for a few games. We kept pushing that date back and back and back. Hopefully, I can do the final five (home games)."

His wife, Jean, helped him immeasurably during this ordeal. He also thanks his doctors.

"I didn't want to fold up my tent and silently slip away," he said.

Tait said he's given no thought about coming back for another season.

"I know what I'm going to do when I retire," he said. "I have things lined up to do. I really wanted to finish it out working instead of sitting at home and letting the season fade away.

"I gave (returning next year) about 20 seconds of thought and dismissed it. I have no intention of coming back under any circumstances."

He said he's lost about 50 pounds after having surgery.

"I'm not lugging anywhere near the tonnage around that I was," he said. "That in itself has helped me get through this extravaganza."

Tait said he'll become the full-time voice of the Mount Union Purple Raiders' football team.

Tait endorsed the job Coach Byron Scott has done this season.

"Byron Scott has done a fabulous job getting through this without a murder or suicide," he said. "He is to be commended. He will be the man to take them up the ladder in the time to come."

Tait will retire without calling a championship team, even though the Cavs went to the NBA Finals in 2007.

"My favorite baseball player was Ernie Banks," he said. "He never went to the World Series. He lived with it.

"I have plenty of very good memories to take into retirement, even though we don't have a world championship."