LeBron James targets Super Bowl refs over holding call in latest criticism of officiating

LeBron James has always been a bit dramatic in his dealings with the officials, but lately he's dialed it up to 11 after a string of close losses were affected by questionable decisions. He grumbled in the locker room after a January loss to the Dallas Mavericks. He had one of the great on-court meltdowns following a bad call you'll ever see against the Boston Celtics. He openly criticized them after a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. "And all year they keep telling me to my face on the court, 'I didn't see it' or 'It wasn't a foul,'" James wrote on Twitter. "It's not making sense to me seriously! Frustrating as hell man!"

On Sunday, he once again used his enormous platform to go after the refs, but this time, he did so in a different sport. James attended Super Bowl 57 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, and while he had no ties to either team, he was frustrated with the holding call that effectively won the Game for Kansas City. 

"Sorry but I don't like that call! Not for the Super Bowl man!" James tweeted. Of course, he wasn't done, adding a second tweet five minutes later. "His hand on his back had no effect on his route! This Game was too damn good for that call to dictate the outcome at the end. Damn! By the way I have no horse in the race. Just my professional opinion."

James is actually fairly qualified to speak on this matter. Before he became the greatest NBA player of his generation, he was the top high school Football player in Ohio. He ultimately gave up Football to concentrate on basketball, but James likely could have reached the NFL as a wide receiver or tight end if he'd wanted to. He even drew interest from NFL teams during the 2011 NBA lockout.

Still, James is rarely going to get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to officiating complaints. Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo even checked the NBA's Last Two Minutes reports from Laker games this season and found that James was vastly overstating the mistakes officials were making. Similarly, Eagles cornerback James Bradberry even admitted that the officials made the right call on the play. "I pulled on his jersey. They called it. I was hoping they would let it ride," Bradberry said, via CBS Sports NFL Insider Josina Anderson.

So sadly, James' officiating complaints will once again fall on deaf ears. Given his recent history, though, it likely won't be long until he's at it again.