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As others have said, there are a lot of variables. Over the years I have set a few rules for myself...
1. I try to avoid men's leagues all together. Nothing good comes of me working them. I do live within walking distance of a health club where the largest local men's league is housed. On occasion I get the "panic call", as someone else alluded to it and if I answer it I kind of feel obligated to go. I do not call the assignor looking for these games.
2. I live near where I grew up and always take games in the leagues I played in. They were instrumental in involving me in the game that I love. In some cases I run into officials, coaches, and directors who were involved in the league when I was a young'n.
3. I give every rec league two chances at each level. I know I can luck out and have an easy day in a "tough" if I only do it once. Vice versa, I can have a horrible day in a great league if I only work once. If I find I am unsure of how it went, I won't take more for that year but will try again next year.
4. Distance and time are both considered. Like another said, I am lucky to have a load of schools/clubs in my area and can find work almost any day/night of the week from November through April. I can afford to pick and choose when I want to drive further away or when I want to work just in the morning so I can be home for football on a Sunday afternoon.
5. Nothing less than $25.
6. No league where I would be expected to work alone. I worked too many of these games in my first two years just to get experience and it turned into me forming very bad habits that took twice as many games to rid myself of and I really think it held me back in my first four or five years as an official.
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