Because the graphics on today's sports video games are so amazing, it makes me sound like an old fuddy duddy when I say how much fun we had as kids playing table-top sports games.

Among my favorites was Electric Football, in part because of the little figures that were painted in the uniform colors of various NFL teams. I was jealous of my best friend because my Electric Football game only featured the Packers and Colts, but his older brother had found a way to send away for players from every NFL team.

For as much fun as we had playing the game, Electric Football was famous for a lot of its non-realistic qualities. For instance, as soon as you turned on the game to watch the play develop, there always seemed to be one or two players who veered immediately toward the goal lines and got stuck in the corners. Completing a pass with the small ball of cotton that supposedly represented a football was an effort in futility. Still, it made for hours of great fun.

Believe it or not, Electric Football has never gone away. In fact, for the past 13 years, there's been an annual Electric Football Super Bowl and Convention where fans of the game gather for competition.

But this year, the NFL has opted not to license a company to produce an Electric Football game with team logos. The previous licensee, Miggle Toys, will still produce an Electronic Football game, but will use the Rose Bowl as its setting and will offer a variety of college team color schemes for use in the game.

While many believe video games have hurt the sales of trading cards among kids, board games have all but become absolete because of video games. The most popular baseball board games over the years, Strat-O-Matic and APBA, still have a small but loyal following. But products created in recent years like Wizards of the Coast's MLB Showdown or Topps' MLB SportsClix games were discontinued because of disappointing sales and probably spell the end of non-video-based sports games.