The Owner Is the Owner, Period [OPINION]

How foolish this politically correct era will appear when historians look back at us from the future. It's enough to make you want to seek out a safe space and have a good cry.

So let's see if I understand correctly: NBA owners can no longer be called owners because some filthy rich ballplayers who have been made wealthy and famous by the NBA owners are offended by the term? Have I got that right?

NBA commissioner Adam Silver tells TMZ Sports: "We moved away from that term years ago … I don't want to overreact to the term because, as I said earlier, people end up twisting themselves into knots avoiding the use of the word 'owner.' But, we moved away from that term years ago in the league …We call our team owners 'Governor of the team' and 'alternate Governor.'"

Not content to wreak havoc in his own sport, LeBron James recently went after NFL owners on his program The Shop, saying, “In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality. And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the f--- I tell y’all to do. Or we get rid of y’all.'"

These dudes need to seriously calm down and get a grip. Whether they like it or not, or are offended or not, the folks who own basketball and football teams are the owners. The owners pay these stupid athletes multiple millions of dollars to play a game. They make these fools wealthy and famous by allowing them to play on the teams that they OWN!

If LeBron and the others don't like that the owners of the teams that employ them are the owners, they can go out and get real jobs like the rest of us. I, for one, am getting sick and tired of the petty-ass cry-babying that seems to never end. Pull up your gym shorts, tough guy, and deal with it.

I've got a great idea: let's all call the owners of the businesses that employ us today and tell them that we resent having to refer to them as the owner. Yeah. On second thought, I appreciate the opportunity to earn a living and feed my family.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.