ok i got it to work! i was able to remove the sprint bloatware following these commands here
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.p...0&postcount=15
for other people in similar situations, hope this will help
after its been rooted
i rebooted in recovery mode (down volume+power)
at the screen with the triangle and ! mark, i hit up up volume + power
i connected my phone to the usb and launched 'recovery-windows.bat'
then i opened up a new command prompt window and start entering the adb commands.
sadly the hosts.txt file didnt work. i still see ads. =(