The Redmen are dead. Long live the Red Snakes!
Natick High School has dropped its Redmen nickname, but the school clearly won’t make Vikings its new name, as I had hoped, since “the Natick public schools shall cease the use of the team name Redmen or any other name, symbol or mascot that is based on or makes reference to race or ethnicity.”
Bastards. Vikings would have made a terrific nickname as they embody some of the qualities you want in a football team, though perhaps not quite to the same extent as North American Indians. But allow me to propose a clever Plan B: The Red Snakes. Red Snake is the name of a character in a classic Swedish novel about Vikings. Instead of Natick Redmen, the Natick Red Snakes. No more putting down Indians by honoring their perceived courage, agility, strength and self discipline, but no need to change team colors either. Everybody wins.
