Everything in your foreground looks to be in focus--the kids in the first row, and the railing of your stadium pics. I imagine that you wouldn't be stuck in macro mode or something similar--I don't own the HTC yet, I just know I've left my current phone's camera app on macro a few times and ruined some shots. But since you've tinkered around with it for a while trying to fix it, it probably is a phone defect and not a settings problem. But I just found that interesting, because parts of your photos did look crystal clear to me, they were just at the bottom of all your photos as opposed to what you wanted to be focusing on.
I hope you're able to get the situation remedied quickly through HTC, your insurance, or your carrier!