There was definitely a golden age of inventive, engaging sports games on 8 and 16 bit consoles.
Who remembers Greatest Heavyweights, the boxing game with the biggest stars of the division from different eras - I remember Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Ali and I think there was one other fighter.
I spent hours and hours on that, same for the F1 game on Megadrive and Monaco GP.
It was a great time to be a football fan, with stuff like Kick off, Sensible Soccer, Striker on the SNES, and Fifa 94 in particular was a favourite too.
There was an all time classic on SNES called Super Tennis, and numerous PGA titles across those generations.
Not to mention the Madden series and NHL hockey.
It was an era where there was genuine choice and competition among developers.
There were 3 or 4 football games all vying for your attention, which drove innovation and ensured the customer was the priority and not the shareholders.
Now, we have an E.A monopoly and it's no surprise their marquee series like Fifa and Madden are stagnant and completely focused on milking the player via micro-transactions.
None of it has been a positive for the player.