Girls are not the boss of them!

A school in Kansas City with a medievally-based curriculum had a rude awakening on Feb. 2 when they discovered that the referee for their boys basketball game was a (gasp!) cootie-filled girl!

. . . a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game. The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.

And don't get them started about that time they almost had a black referee!

But there is a silver lining. Two other male officials who were there and could have refereed, having the requisite amount of testosterone and body hair, refused!

Campbell then walked off the court along with Darin Putthoff, the referee who was to work the game with her.

"I said, 'If Michelle has to leave, then I'm leaving with her," Putthoff said Wednesday. "I was disappointed that it happened to Michelle. I've never heard of anything like that."

Fred Shockey, who was getting ready to leave the gym after officiating two junior high games, said he was told there had been an emergency and was asked to stay and officiate two more games.

"When I found out what the emergency was, I said there was no way I was going to work those games," said Shockey, who spent 12 years in the Army and became a ref about three years ago. "I have been led by some of the finest women this nation has to offer, and there was no way I was going to go along with that."

That's awesome. Good for these guys for standing up for their fellow human being and referee. I hope some of the kids at the school, especially those who just wanted to play basketball, learned a lesson from these upstanding folk about respect and human dignity that their school officials obviously aren't capable of teaching.