I was thinking of buying a new TV. So far I found a Panasonic Viera and a 40" Philips. I'm having a hard time deciding, so I was hoping that someone could help me out a bit. I was wondering which one was better for games/ sports.
Here's a few details of each:

The Panasonic
42" plasma, 720p
60hz refresh rate

The Philips
40" LCD, 1080p
60hz refresh rate

Sidenote: should I get a higher refresh rate?

I have a 42' 1080P LCDHD Hisense tv it's actually a nice tv, I give this one a look see.

Plasma tvs use too much electricity.

You can get a 40 inch Samsung 1080p for around 500 bucks. Little more for 120hz refresh rate.

I personally wouldn't buy a panasonic or Phillips on such a large purchase.

Do you have the model numbers? How much are you looking to spend?

In general, a plasma TV is going to use a lot more power, generate more heat, and have phosphors that can "burn in." They have superior contrast ratio to LCDs, though. The biggest down-side to LCDs is that back-lit displays tend to have contrast ratio issues, and I believe that the Panasonic LCDs tend to have IPS panels in them, which have great viewing angles but not-so-great contrast ratios (typically).

Higher refresh rates are good for sports, and IMO that's about it. Most TV and movie content is 24fps - 30fps anyway (so 60Hz is fine). Most of the higher refresh TVs have some kind of frame interpolation technology that you can turn on or off that will insert extra frames to simulate more fps. To me this makes things look like they were filmed on a camcorder (it's somehow too smooth...you really have to see it to understand). I usually just leave it turned off. It makes sporting events look nice, though.