I never asked why it was popular, I asked why it isnt terrible. Do you have an actual answer or do you want to answer another question nobody asked? Explain this 'depth' to me; and if the explanation is 'lots of poor people play' Im going to shit a fuckin brick. You may have drank the kool-aid, but Im not playing ball because some PE teacher in elementary school gave a pro-soccer motivational speech.
It is more tactical thn most sports and requires a great amount of skill and fitness. It is exciting, you don't need 100s of points to make a game exciting.