Actually, one of the reasons I like Sparrow so much is that Google Chat isn't supported. I know I can just leave it turned off in the gmail interface, but if I'm ever bored and feel like seeing who's around it's too tempting to switch it on. With Sparrow I'm much more likely to get back to whatever I'm supposed to be doing after handling some email.
What about using a dedicated IM program like Adium? I find it leaps and bounds over using the web gChat client. Also it manages 1x MSN, 2x gChat and IRC in one place for me.
