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Professional sports is more than just kid games that adults do.  It's a multi-billion dollar industry, and the athletes only get a proportion of the cash.  Let's look at the top paid athletes in certain sports:

Baseball - Alex Rodriguez    - $32,000,000 (2011 Salary)
Boxing - Manny Pacquiao     - $32,000,000 (2010 Fight Purse (2 fights))
Auto Racing - Kimi Raikkonen-$26,333,333 (2010 Race Winnings + 12.7M from F1)
NBA - Kobe Bryant                   - $24,800,000 (10-11 Salary)
Soccer - Cristiano Ronaldo   - $19,500,000 (10-11 Salary)
Jockey - Ramon Dominguez -$17,411,880 (2010 Earnings)
Football - Peyton Manning     - $15,800,00 (2010 Salary)
Tennis - Rafael Nadal            - $10,171,998 (2010 Prize Money)
Hockey - 2 tied                         - $10,000,000 (2010 Salary, Lacavalier and Luongo)
Poker - Jonathan Duhemal   - $9,443,519 (Tournament winnings)
Golf (Men) - Luke Donald       - $5,867,601 (Tournament winnings)
MMA - Brock Lesnar                - $5,300,000 (Fight Purse, PPV revenue sharing)
Golf (Women - Kim Clijsters - $5,035,060 (Tournament winnings)

That's 13 different sports with athletes making $5,000,000 or more a year.  Nine sports have athletes making $10,000,000 or more.  Are they over paid?  Should some make more than others?  Take note, Brock Lesnar is in one of the most violent sports around, and is making almost half as much as a poker player.   

I'd like to finish this entry with a line from a classic (changed up a bit for blogging purposes) "Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys; let them be Jockey's or Racers or such."