I miss when Arsenal had a captain that stuck around for more than three seasons.
I miss when people got into UFC because they had a genuine interest and discipline in Mixed-martial arts and not because they were Brock Lesnar marks who simply didn't know where else to turn after WWE gradually became PG. (yeah, I went there)
Speaking of which, I miss when the World Heavyweight Title was actually pushed as a world title on par with the WWE Title instead of being booked as a mid-card hot potato so that the WWE can camouflage Chris Benoit's reign. Doesn't change what happened concerning the Benoit family, but by now refusing to air entire re-runs because Jim Ross took 10 seconds of his time to mention who Randy Orton beat to win his first world title is rather overkill.
Ultimately, the reason why things are the way they are now is because there's just not enough sense of sense of faith or ambition in the world anymore, it prides itself in taking the easy way out.