An alternative name for Natick's sports teams

...is a racial slur like Red Man?

Honestly, before you rush to claim all patriots and yankees for the white race, could you PLEASE go back to your high school history classes and remember Crispus Attucks. A man of color, perhaps even BOTH African and Native American heritage, who was among those killed during the Boston Massacre. Heck, the only one anyone remembers. Among the Revolutionary era heroes buried at Granary.

And Celtics simply aren't a comparable example. For starters, the Irish actually use Celtic as a sports name IN Ireland. If you want to show me an example of Native Americans calling sports teams the "Red Men" before European settlement, be my guest. Then it might be a comparable example. Even still, Celtic was representing the community the team was founded in AND the word isn't a slur. Red Men is and it doesn't represent the community in Natick. If Harlem started a team called the "Harlem Crackers" you might have a point. Call me when that's done seriously and not to make a point. Then, you'd have a comparable example to the Natick Red Men.

I'm glad Natick is changing the name. I'm agnostic on a lot of the tribal names (though I think the mascots are usually over the line) but "redmen" is clearly over the line.

The Celtics? That's not particularly offensive. If it were the Boston Drunk Irishmen with a passed out leprechaun next to an empty bottle of whiskey as a mascot, that would be offensive.

I don't know where you were trying to go with the Yankees or Patriots. Lots of folks consider themselves yankees and patriots regardless of race, ethnicity,or socioeconomic or geographic location and they aren't racial slurs.