Buffalo Rumblings
While there were a few undercurrents prior to it, the news of Sean McDermott being fired was nearly universally seen as a surprise. Even among fans who had been calling it, the arrival was a bit of a shock.
There are lot of opinions on the move out there, but in true Skarekrow fashion I aim to give you the weirdest one yet. I see the move as being a lot like the story of me and my first dishwasher.
Yes, a dishwasher. I was lucky enough to grow up around “handy” people. My dad loves the DIY life, I had gearhead friends, and a rural school with more tech and ag options than many colleges (I had a midterm once that involved a chainsaw). I consider myself a somewhat “handy” guy as a result of all this. I do however have some reluctance when it comes to major repairs on things I could be more familiar with.
When we bought our house it came with a dishwasher. The first I’ve ever owned. It worked well and I appreciated not having to do things by hand so much. Then the control panel started wearing out. You’d have to press the buttons hard, or find the sweet spot in certain cases. Aside from that it worked well. By objective metrics it was a great dishwasher. Maybe it fell short of similar models with the glitch from time to time, but it washed the heck out of those dishes.
As you might assume, the control panel didn’t pull a “Christine” and repair itself. It wasn’t going to improve on its own and slowly I could tell it was getting worse. While reluctant to try and repair it myself, there’s always a tipping point for me. Some moment of clarity that I need to do something before it all goes to hell and I’m left with a disaster.
Sometimes the tipping point is easy. When my Xbox 360 had the red ring of death that was an easy decision. Sure, I had never needed to use thermal paste in my life before but it was cheap and it’s not like I could make it worse than it was already.
Sometimes there’s a cost-to-benefit ratio involved in the decision. When my car stereo broke I didn’t want to pull the trigger on buying a new one even though this was a repair I felt comfortable with. When it became evident it was creating an electrical draw that was creating issues for my battery, it forced my hand. One problem had started to bleed into another. Even still I lived with it for a bit until time put a cheaper stereo head in my hands to make the pain of change a little easier.
I’ve been one of the most ardent defenders of Sean McDermott the last few years. I’ve pointed out how the “McDermott defense” has some philosophical stability but has been intensely variable...
