I'll ignore the last out-of-context remark (and your opinion of what is or isn't ridiculous); whoever the person who made the unfortunate comparison is, he's welcome to come up with an explanation for it by himself (or perhaps the comedians you quote have a point?) :).

Oh, and please don't make any assumptions about which sport I or others consider more exciting or interesting. I have to say that my interest in male basketball dropped considerably when I realized the match was mostly a financial one between countries battling over who has more money to purchase more foreigners for their teams. So yeah, big deal: Maccabi Tel Aviv can afford some more tall Americans. Yee-Hah.