The AOD can be made fun to drive like Nathan said, but to do it right costs some coin (good converter, valve body, shifter, gears, etc..) and the 5 speed will still be faster if driven by a good driver due to the AOD sucking up a lot more power to operate.
I enjoy the convience of the automatic and dont like to shift, so I modded my AOD and can live with it being a little slower than similar 5 speed cars. After all, there always someone faster, and it all comes down to how much coin you have. More coin, faster you can go.
Yeah, the AOD can still be boring at times, but when your stuck in traffic, it sure is nice then
Just make sure you want a stick before you go through the expense of the swap. And dont waste your time swapping to a T-5, go straight to a Tremec.