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Outside of a partner who fails to show up for the game, here are my top 5:
1. Someone who wants the attention on him/her. Shows in two ways--flashy exaggerated mechanics and would rather blow the whistle on a close call than let the play go without a whistle. This person inserts himself/herself into the game too frequently. This person is just itching to blow the whistle and wants desperately to make the big call.
2. The partner who holds too high an opinion of himself/herself. This person's calls cannot ever be critiqued because he/she is always right and always has some explanation for why such and such a decision was correct even though everyone else knows it was BS. This person believes that the game being officiated is beneath him/her and wants to talk about how many college games he/she has done or when I had so and so last week or I'll be at a certain place next week.
3. The person who is too chatty with the players and coaches. Just leads to problems and also slows down the action.
4. Laziness. Doesn't want to switch, doesn't hustle to the table to report fouls, is slow to administer throw-ins and FTs. Turns a 1 hr and ten minute game into 90 minutes. Makes the game drag and sucks the energy out of it by being slow.
5. The person who calls fouls and violations on plays because they look awkward instead of apply what is written in the book. The play may be perfectly legal, but gets a whistle--sometimes right in front of YOU! Examples are when a player jumps or twists at an odd angle and avoids contact, but yells or lands hard or a player muffs a pass and juggles it for a few steps before controlling it. The first gets a foul on the nearest defender and the second gets called traveling. Many of these are ex-players or coaches who KNOW that they are right and can't be told otherwise.
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