TDD and Fantatics

I don't understand how or when TDD == Fanaticism? Yes, TDD is a high discipline practice, but so is using SCM. You don't just arbitrarily decide to not check in code. Or start the day without pulling down the latest changes. Or not branch/label/snapshot the tree each release.

Yes, TDD advocates can sound like zealots, and that's OK.
We sound like zealots because we've done TDD long enough to get good at it. We are good enough at it to see the benefits. And it took a little longer than half a day to get good at it. We remember the code we wrote and read pre-TDD, and we prefer the code we write and read now with TDD.

I've been an XP consultant/coach for 8 years now, and these sorry assed excuses about how TDD doesn't scale, or my process/project/team is unique and it doesn't fit, or I'm such a bad ass programmer that I don't need no stinkin best practice telling what to do, are getting really old. To be completely honest, they all have a slight aroma of laziness to me.

There are a lot of best practices and processes out there that I do not do or do not advocate, but that's all I do. I don't go out of my way to bash them or the people who find them valuable.