First off, I must declare I am not the authoritative voice on Ohio hockey. Former staff writer Michael W. Johnson wrote this column last year after covering the team for two years. I covered the club hockey team last season, during most of which I sat befuddled, trying to understand what I was watching.

Hockey is easy to watch but difficult to truly understand if you have never played the game, I have discovered.

I direct this column toward those who have never attended an Ohio club hockey game at Bird Arena, the unlucky bunch who have never experienced the jubilation of 2,000 fans packed inside a rustic arena cheering on their fellow students.

Ohio's hockey team is a living example of all that is right about college athletics. I say this not with a haughty tone, trying to make this column more than it is. But in all reality, it is an example of the value of college sports.

The team is not varsity, and has not been for over 20 years. It gets no support from the Ohio Athletics Department. It differs from the varsity programs because the only way the team can continue to exist is to put fans in the seats.

Ohio plays its games under the restrictions of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, a national league of over 100 teams split into two divisions. Ohio is in Division I, a grouping of 34 teams bound by tighter restrictions and featuring stronger play than its Division II counterparts.

The players do not receive any scholarship money from the university, spending their spare time drumming up advertisement sales from local businesses.

The head coach, Craig McCarthy, sometimes has too much on his plate to go to practice, as he is a graduate student preparing his doctoral dissertation. The assistant coaches come and go every year.

The team is bound together by love of hockey. Covering the team for two quarters, I was immersed in the family atmosphere of the team. I ate with the family of players in the Blueline Boosters Club between periods, and often after I finished post-game interviews, I was invited out with the team to celebrate.

Players joke and jostle around the locker room in a Norman Rockwell picture of sports. That may be a literary stretch, as I don't remember any Rockwell paintings of sweaty Canadians shaving their hockey sticks to the music of Ratt, but you get my point.

This program is one to be admired. The players play hard out of respect for the game. They buy their own equipment and pay a nominal fee in order to play.

This fall, I was fortunate enough to fly to Minnesota with the football team. A luxury Ohio hockey players live without.

Last season, the hockey team completed two grueling bus trips, one to Iowa and the other to Delaware. Along with other bus rides to scenic Mid-American Conference cities like Ypsilanti, Mich. This season, the Bobcats will travel to Minot, North Dakota for the ACHA national championship, hopefully on a plane. But even if they did ride a bus, no one would complain. OK, maybe they would complain about that last one, but who wouldn't?

I remember interviewing McCarthy as the team loaded up the bus to travel to Iowa for the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament. He wanted me to mention in my article how grateful he was to the fans who paid $3.50 to see his team slash and fly around the ice. Without them, he said, this trip would not be possible.

That is what makes Ohio's hockey team so intriguing. The team comes into every season with its eye on the national title, but at the same time is grateful it has enough money to travel to the tournaments.

This season, Bird Arena will host the usual assortment of league foes, with Iowa State and Illinois making rare appearances. Make an Ohio hockey game part of your weekend plans and cheer your Bobcats to victory.

I write this article for no reason other than to show my support for my favorite team on campus. I am happy I will return to Bird Arena this season, this time as a fan.

Greenberg, a junior journalism major, can be sent e-mail at jg371997.