You can make the case that at least three of the states, maybe four get it right......

http://deadspin.com/infographic-is-your-states-highest-paid-employee-a-co-489635228

They aren't even proper sports. Rugby with padding and bloody netball !!!

So....we are overpaying? :-)

I think you're over generous Kev - rugby players, even if they were padded, don't do a tackle then all go and have a rest to recover!  

I believe the pro-sports are grossly over paid in the US.  It would be better to pay scholars high salaries than athletes.

(No smoking, Kevin!)

Ah....the map shows the highest paid government employee in each state. It has nothing to do with pro sports unless you want to take into account that most colleges are basically farm teams for the pros......

The map you show proves to me one very important thing:  Sports, not learning, take too big a part in the college experience.  I say to hell with college sports and college scholarships based upon hunting out high school athletes!  Hunt out the smart kids, the ones who will make a real mark in the world, the scientists, the inventors, the writers and philosophers. I am sick of this adulation of sports figures.  Good for them and I, too, love sports and before I ruined my body I was a very good athlete, but I never expected to make millions off of it.  To hell with sweat hogs and grunthogs who slip through the university system just because they can throw a ball or catch one or because they can run!!!  Would they pay Steven Hawking $250,000  to stay at their university for four years or would they pay him $5 milliom for a 5 year pro contract?  WHY NOT?  THEY SHOULD!  Damn it .  This stupid sports stuff makes me so angry.   NO!  THEY DON'T DESERVE WHAT THEY MAKE (notice I didn't say earn.)

If they want to be entertainers then let them turn pro and go that road.  Stay out of school because most of them are not intellectually gifted.  That's all I have to say.  They disgust me.  The whole sports for big bucks is disgusting.  Bleah!  This country is in trouble.

The above lady is not gonna get a complaint from me.

I come from a country where university is based on academic achievement.