End of an Era?

It was Dhyan Chand and his Hockey stick and all the same it was a jagged thud of goals, a lot of thunder birds and India was the winner next to rest of the world. Whole country was in a rhythm and celebrations to be the World Champs. Endearing 8 Gold medals in Olympics could make any dweller of a nation pompous and fill with the enthusiasm. After 80 years of charisma and survival, the flame has been blown off while qualifying for the Beijing Olympics 2008. Is it end of an era?
I have always been one of the thinkers who care about sports maturity in India where cricket is the creed and the only team game most Indians play, watch, comment and live for. Cricket eats up a lot of time whilst the world famous games Football and Hockey end up with a lot of rage in a minimal time frame. Why not focus on Hockey, It’s our national game and we were once the World Champions for a long duration. Why not focus on Football, the most widely played game across globe?
After India won the Asia cup for Hockey, there was a big talk for getting back the lost phenomenon In TV, Print Media and radios. All expectations were lying to be the champ again. But it takes just 70 minutes for the dreams to get shattered and so happened in the qualifying rounds where India lost to Britain for 2-0. Is this the spirit of breaking 80 years campaigning?
The new 20-20 format of Cricket is formed and has reached its best, is taking a big deliberation across countries. India is the first world champion of this cricket. It takes only 3 hours for the game to create zeal and fighting spirit not only for the players but for the audience as well. IPL and ICL have been formed along with the all great players from India as well Outside India. A lot of money and a lot of determination seem creeping through. Why hockey still remains the national game which is very rarely played, watched and commented by a number of people? Should cricket be made the national Game where a lot of consideration, money, opportunity and enthusiasm lies? Should the sports authority of India accept the truth and reflect the hidden but visible changes into effect or it’ll still be a surprise to have a national game, the nation doesn’t deal with…?