IGN gave out their 2009 awards and FIFA 10 got sports game of the year with the other nominees being:
Fight Night Round 4
MLB '09: The Show
NHL 10
WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2010
Madden wasn't even an also-ran. Should the Madden team be embarrassed? It's sad because the NFL is so huge, and Madden seems to always fall short. Every year it's the same thing. Madden gets over-hyped and everyone feels like this has got to be the year it really delivers, and then it always seems to come up short.
Maybe expectations are too high, leaving Madden doomed to fail year after year.