I'm excited too! It'll be interesting to see how the Vikes do with McNabb, tho I wished that they'd stop getting these old QB veterans (McNabb, Favre, Moon, McMahon, etc.), and do more to train and keep good up-and-coming players.
@Annella: In some ways I agree with you... Nowadays it seems like the money becomes more important than the game. When professional sports first started, it was made up of guys from the city / state they were playing for, and they played for the love of the game. Now it seems like they'll move around the country looking for the best offer rather than their home-town. Also, some athletes seem to only work as hard as they need to to get a paycheck rather than always trying to best themselves in the spirit of the sport. For example, Randy Moss seemed to have a poor work ethic; he was naturally talented, so he received a lot of money early in his career, but then he never seemed to put in much effort, esp. after he had established a name for himself.
However, there are a lot of "careers" that I may think are not "real jobs" and are a waste of time and effort: actors, game developers, bartenders, dancers (both normal and risque), singers and other musicians, fictional authors, etc. Do they really provide any true benefit to our society? At first look I'd say no -- none of those occupations provide a necessary good or service. But then again we are also an emotional animal. We like to feel happiness, enjoyment, relaxation, excitement, etc. If we were to eliminate all of these occupations, it would be a boring life indeed. Thus we are willing to spend money for people that entertain us as well as for the other goods and services we deem necessary for our survival. And as with any other industry, entertainers' cost is mitigated by supply and demand.... If you want to see some entertainment, you can go to a local community theater and watch a play for $10-20. But if you want to see the best talents act, you'd have to go to a Broadway show for tickets that are much more expensive. Same with sports; we have a local farm-league baseball team that for $25 you get tickets to the game and entry to the "deck" where they have all-you-can-eat / drink food and beverages (including beer), whereas to see the MLB Twins, it'd cost $25 just to get a ticket to the game in the "nose-bleed" section.
So even though in some ways I think that athlete salaries may seem excessive esp. when considering what actual benefit they provide for society, I really cannot begrudge them of that money, and can only use that as an inspiration to be the best that I can.