It’s easy to dismiss what happened in Kansas recently between a private religious high school and a female referee as misogynistic. When Michelle Campbell showed up to officiate a boys’ basketball game at St. Mary’s Academy, she was told the school did not allow women to referee boys’ games. Campbell did not officiate the game nor did her male counterpart, who refused to work the game out of loyalty to Campbell.

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I once had a colleague who was keen on putting together a men’s basketball tournament involving only Catholic schools, sort of the Catholic version of March Madness, having Jesuit colleges battle Franciscan schools for Catholic sports supremacy. Nothing ever came of the idea, but it was fun to contemplate.

This year, when the NCAA men’s basketball tournament rolled around, I began thinking about my co-worker and his Catholic tournament.

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