I don’t know if it is unique to Cleveland that Armond Smith could be such a big topic of conversation, but it sure feels that way. Smith was cut in favor of Adonis Thomas yesterday after apparently getting beat out in rookie camp with shorts on. This morning on Kiley and Booms I heard Bud Shaw once again mention that at least we wouldn’t see Pat Shurmur running Armond Smith on 4th and 1 again. It goes to show that the more I mature, just how far I still have to go because it made me angry. I know Bud was just going for an easy punchline, but let’s not re-write history here.

First of all, I need to talk about a comedy rule of three that I have been obsessed with lately. I heard Aziz Ansari talk about it and I think he was paraphrasing Joe Rogan. Or maybe he was paraphrasing Louis C.K.’s appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast? Anyway, I am continuing the game of telephone and paraphrasing the paraphraser. The idea in writing jokes is that you have to go three levels for truly good and original comedy. When a topic comes up, the first thought you have is the joke that everyone comes up with. The second joke is better than the first, but it is still probably a bit facile. The third joke will be truly original. It isn’t a hard, fast rule, but that’s the idea. References aren’t jokes and are rarely good punchlines. Using Armond Smith’s run on 4th and 1 is quite simply the first crack available and as I think I proved it is nothing more than just second-guessing the coach because it happened not to work.

So let’s get back to that play one final time as we bid farewell to a 4th string running back that won’t even be a footnote in Cleveland Browns history. [Read more...]