I’ve been looking at High Definition (HDTV) channel lineups for here in Indianapolis and am kind of disappointed.

Here’s what Comcast (my only cable choice) offers:

1. A&E HD
2. Cinemax HDTV East
3. ESPN 2 HD
4. ESPN HD
5. FSN Midwest HD
6. HBO HDTV East
7. HD Theater
8. MHD
9. National Geographic HD
10. Showtime East (HDTV)
11. Showtime HDTV East
12. Starz HDTV
13. Starz HDTV East
14. TNT HD
15. Universal HD
16. Versus/Golf HD
17. WFYI (PBS)
18. WISH (CBS)
19. WRTV (ABC)
20. WTHR (NBC)
21. WTTV-4 (WB)
22. WXIN (FOX)

And from the list above, I wouldn’t get any of the “premium” channels and I can only see myself watching local channels (which I can get in HD over the air) and the sports channels.  But the sports channels are enough to tear me a bit…the main reasons I’d buy an HDTV are for sports and movies.

I don’t really want to get satellite TV because I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t had issues with it. “Oh, it’s windy.” Or “Oh, it’s snowing/raining.” Or “Oh, the suns out today.”  Or, “Oh, Jupiter is in the way.” Or, “Oh, it’s Tuesday.”  Seriously, who hasn’t heard this from people?  As much as I might complain about Comcast prices and service, outages aren’t that common of an occurrence (it does happen though).

AT&T’s U-verse (which I’ve heard good things about and has an amazing HD lineup), isn’t available in my area (not surprising since I can’t even get a decent DSL connection…which is crazy since I live inside Indianapolis city limits in a large neighborhood and very close to many businesses).  I’d probably opt for that if it were an option.

I’ve been reading up on HDTV for a while and with the Februaury 2009 “switch”, it’s time to get on board, so I’m curious as to what any “early adopters” out there have experienced and would suggest.  In my looking over the past few moths, it is very clear that HDTVs have made an amazing stride in both quality and price drop.

So with that, I ask:

• What are your experiences?
• What are you doing for your TV viewing?
• What about Blu-Ray players?
  • Sony PlayStation 3 vs. Stand Alone Players
• What about HDTVs?
  • LCD, DLP or Plasma?  (I personally like the LCDs for the picture and price.)
• What about DVRs?

“Chad Johnson …has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco in Broward County, Fla., a switch that became official this week.”

I almost fell down laughing when I read that one…you gotta love the guy in the sense that his attention getting has nothing illegal attached to it (that I know of)…and it’s pretty funny too.  Distracting for the team standpoint yes, but entertaining to watch.

According to ESPN the NFL is still weighing their options.  “The NFL has yet to decide whether they will allow him to wear “Ocho Cinco” on the back of his jersey. “  Being the “No Fun League” I’m not sure where they’ll fall on this, but if that’s his legal name now, then so be it…and the NFL can go get all of the Johnson jerseys and destroy them all as they’re good at that sort of thing.

Apparently with the name change Ocho is either ruling out Detroit (Chuck Hughes) and St Louis (Jack Youngblood) as possibly trade destinations or wants a four number jersey.

And too bad no one ever told Ocho that 85 was really “ochenta y cinco” in Spanish…

More proof that many athletes are paid too much…

One man was arrested and a second was sought Tuesday in a robbery and beating that left Oakland Raiders receiver Javon Walker unconscious on a side street after a long night of partying at Las Vegas nightclubs.

Lt. Clinton Nichols said (Javon) Walker lost about $3,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of jewelry in the robbery.

[via ESPN]

For a moment let’s put aside the thoughts that athletes are due their “piece of the pie”, as that’s a whole other series of posts.  And lets agree that Javon Walker getting mugged, or anyone for that matter, is a bad thing.

That said, why in the world do athletes (and not just Pacers players) insist on hanging out in nightclubs and flaunting their wealth? And for Javon, situations like this isn’t something new…”On New Year’s Day 2007, Broncos teammate Darrent Williams died in Walker’s arms in the back of a limousine after a drive-by shooting in downtown Denver.”

Come on guys, pull your heads out of your rears.  I’m not going to offer specific advice here on how you should handle yourself, you’re all adults, but I can think of numerous alternatives that don’t involve a high probability of eventually getting robbed, shot at or stabbed.  But if I were your employer, you can be guaranteed that putting yourself in these sort of situations wouldn’t be tolerated.

There I go thinking logically again…that works fine with computers, but apparently not with many people.