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Evan Smith strikes a blow for economy of language

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The artist formerly known as Evan Dietrich-Smith had a perfectly valid reason for shortening his name, and it’s not because he was adopted by Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith.

The veteran offensive lineman, who now goes by Evan Smith, said he shortened his legal name for pragmatic reasons.

“I have to write it,” he said, via the team’s official website. “I didn’t want my daughter to have to deal with it her whole life. I went by Evan Smith for a really long time so it’s nothing new to me. It’s pretty much new to everyone else because nobody knew that beforehand.