I always like to have the players earn it when it gets down to crunch time. Make sure it's definitive one way or another. If the offense initiated contact, and it was significant then you can go with player control foul. If it was a definite trip, that caused the offense to fall, then call it on the defense. If it was too difficult to tell, then maybe holding the whistle was the best thing to do (even though you take heat for it).
The trip call is the ugliest situation in my mind as an official. You can always bail yourself out by calling it on the defense, without a lot of argument from anyone. But it's not always the correct call from a defensive standpoint. If there's less than 10 seconds in a game, let them earn it (it has to be clear cut) before calling anything.
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