1. I think you'd be looking for a soccer ball type of primitive. Not sure if Maya has one by default, but you could probably find it by looking around on the web.

2. I seem to remember there being a single attribute that controls glow intensity for the whole scene (shaderGlow is a global node). It might be that it's being interfered with by the physical sun and sky. Open up the shaderGlow in the attribute editor and try decreasing the glow intensity. Hope that helps.

Edit: Just re-read that you've changed the glow intensity... not sure then.