TV Unplugged

I have some unfinished thoughts on the Lakers-Celtics series that will go up tomorrow.  In the meantime, wanted to ask the larger community about an issue that many of us might face...

After getting married, we've intentionally been going without TV for the last 1.5 years.  No antenna, basic channels, cable, etc.  For the first time in many years (college days?), I don't have the ability to flop down on the couch after work and veg away hours of sports, reruns of movies, foodie shows, etc.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing.  I recommend it for anyone getting married in the future - not having TV removes an easy excuse not to talk to your new spouse, and it's a good thing to try for a year.  However, we've noted that even just being able to get broadcast channels (stuff we could get over an antenna) would help us work out more (we both have habits of exercising while watching, like situps/pushups/pullups during commercial breaks) and sometimes it's nice to watch major network shows on a larger screen than on a laptop playing Hulu.

So, we've been trying to figure out how we could best partake in media now that we've moved into our new house.  We're tentatively thinking of installing a rooftop antenna around the time that we replace our roof this summer.  However, some hanging questions include:

- Can we go without paying for TV and rely on DVDs/Hulu?
- What will I do for NBA purposes?  Should I sign up for League Pass online?
- If we don't have cable TV, is it really necessary to get a nice big flatscreen (once our CRT burns out) primarily for video games and DVDs?
- Are there TVs that we can hook up laptops to, or that can play directly off the Internet?
- Is it worth looking into streaming media like Netflix online?  If so, how big of an internet pipe is needed for good performance?
- Is there any truth to the rumors that with so many people hopping off of cable plans that run from $40-$100 a month, cable companies will eventually need to cave and go to a pay-per-channel model?

Some links I've skimmed but haven't researched in depth yet:
http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2010/01/04/paying-for-tv-one-way-or-another
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/01/your-guide-to-cutting-the-cord-to-cable-tv008.html

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/01/espn_on_xbox_360_tipping_point_for_cable_workarounds.html
http://lifehacker.com/5475091/how-can-i-ditch-cable-and-watch-my-tv-shows-and-movies-online
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/10/03/26/155255/Whats-the-Best-Way-To-Get-Web-Content-To-My-TV

How about the rest of you?  What do you do for media intake on the small (computer) or big (TV) screen?  In particular, what do you do for live sports?