Are professional athletes overpaid?

Here are some different opinions about athlete's salaries:

http://www.diggreview.net/05/23/why-do-athletes-make-so-much-money.html
You here it every day…why does ‘Kobe Bryant’ or ‘David Beckham’ get paid tens of millions every year to play a “sport”? They make endless amounts of money for doing something they love to do… is there something wrong with that? From the outside looking in… PROBABLY, but if you give it some thought you will understand why.
An athlete dedicates their entire life to their “sport”, and to become one of the best in the world is a huge accomplishment. Compare a good athlete to a top CEO within a big company. CEO’s make much more per year than the top athletes in the world, and believe it or not, some of them are making even billions. Sure they make big decisions, but they have done exactly what an athlete has done…
****** PICK SOMETHING AND BECOME THE BEST AT IT ******

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/109577
What I don't understand is that many of the same people who complain that athletes make too much money are those clamoring to get more money for either themselves or working class America. If average joe american has the right to make as much money as possible how come the same can't be said for athletes? I realize that $25,000 is quite different than $25,000,000 but the principle is the same.

http://hubpages.com/hub/athletesalaries
In the context of analyzing this issue of whether athletes are worth what they are paid, there must be a clear definition of the term “worth”. What does worth mean? Is it value in the sense of their essentiality to human nature? Is it their value to a society? Or does how much one produce remain the determining factor of worth?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/676003/are_professional_athletes_overpaid.html
I believe that professional athletes are drastically overpaid. We see athletes getting paid millions of dollars just to throw or kick a ball. I mean what importance are they to society beyond entertainment? They aren't.