In mine, there might be one partner I see 3 times a season.

The question I have is this; is "comfort" a matter of personalities or of competence? ... Occasionally I work with someone I don't trust to get the job done when the pressure is on...which makes me uncomfortable. I couldn't care less about your personality.

For most, perception is going to prevent these from being completely isolated from one another.

This sounds about right. I'm just saying the max amount possible in HS for us. There's something on Arbiter that flags the assigner if you've worked with someone within 14 days.

I may have a different approach. I am in the twilight of my career (age) and I still really love to officiate. At this time in my life, this about fun and not worrying about moving up etc...In 2-man, I work with the same guy almost every night. We have worked together now for 7 years. My previous partner and I were together 9 years before he retired.

I love knowing where my partner is and he always knows where I am. I do work a few games a year with someone else and it is OK. But you can't replace the conversations that go on in the vehicle on the way to the game.

We use different people for 3-person and that is good too. Met a really great young official a month ago that we would work with any time.

Ah. Not sure if that's the case here. There have been times I've seen one partner three times before Christmas, then not at all the rest of the season.

Competence is more important. I'm definitely nowhere near on boat with not caring about personalities.

There is the occasional night, maybe once a month, where I'm thinking: oh dang how'd I get put with these two old grumps.

two man games? :)

Hah, I was slightly grumpy having to do my first 2-man game of the year. Had to do my second one of the year last night but it was a deaf&blind school. They're always the nicest people you'll ever meet and make it fun.

Round these parts, I work with the same level experience guys and mostly about the same 10 people. I would love to be the new guy and be uncomfortable around more experienced guys. I want to learn and get better and it sucks when you are generally the stronger whistle on the court. Not that I can't learn by working with a new guy but it's not the same as with a veteran

Positives and negatives working with new people, on the plus side for me:

1. As Rich pointed out, I tend to be more focused and work hard to earn my stripes with the crew that night.

2. Enjoy meeting and learning from new people.

On the downside:

1. I find out crews are out of synch a lot more, it can be tougher to find a rhythm with the game.

2. It seems like partners reach more.

For me the biggest part of working with new people each night is that it required me to have more patience. The first year I experienced it, I would come home frustrated every night because "this guy I have never worked with" made a bad call and the crew suffered. Now I can brush those things off and enjoy the "down time" on the court.

I have an occasional partner about whom I feel the same way, and he is a friend of mine. He has been officiating longer than me and has helped me along the way (once gave me a great piece of advice concerning officiating adult rec leagues), so I do not feel it is my place to critique him. I just make sure that when I work with him in tight games I communicate as much as possible to keep him focused.

"Don't do it" ?

Don't do it if I can't be professional and rise above the comments the players were making. I had just started officiating (1st or 2nd year) and many of those players were guys I had played against in pick-up ball and open tournaments sponsored by my military base. So instead of calling T's or telling them I had enough, I was escalating the situations by talking smack or making sarcastic comments.

I stopped taking those games for the rest of that season.

Ok, Rich, I know I'm moving to WI next season so I admit I'm probably a bit biased in this comment. But I'll try to keep it objective.

Would you agree that the long-lead contracting process you use in Wisconsin encourages assignment of crews vice individuals? If so, would you also agree that said process stymies the value of working with a wide variety of officials throughout the season?

Do other assignors see it this way? If so, what is the impediment to moving away from the long-lead contracting system? It seems from what I've gathered on the forum that only about 5% of basketball assignors in America operate under this system.

Disclaimer: I promise that when in Rome, I will do as the Romans do. :D