Soccer ball
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
In the Halo 2 Metropolis (Level), there is a giant soccer ball hidden in the rooftops. To get it, retrieve the Scarab Gun and get back into the Banshee. Then head along the highway after the ampitheater until you find a building with a huge chunk taken out of it. At the bottom of the hole you will see the giant soccer ball If you manage to get it out before the Scarab comes by, it's really fun to see the Scarab kicking the ball around on its way to the canal. The Scarab Guns are good for pushing it around. There is speculation that it was put in there for Bungie to test the physics engine of the game, and they left it there for us to have fun with.
A red ball similar to the soccer ball is shown in the Limited Edition DVD. There is a section that talks about the special testing level the Bungie uses to test weapons, enemies, vehicles, enivronmental effects, sounds, etc. One of the scenes that is shown shows him driving a Warthog and moving the ball around.
Alternate method
There is actually another uncommon way to get the ball. If you are not able to get the banshee to that part of the map, don't fret, all you need is to be in co-op and have a Wraith. Position one person at a certian position below a smaller building, but one still missing a chunk (Note: You will see it as soon as you walk back out into the street.), and the second person in the Wraith, with both people facing each other. Have the Wraith boost. If the person not in the wraith jumps at the right time he will be boosted up into the broken part of the building. You are so close, but yet so far. Look around and you will see two metal things sticking out, one on each side. Jump onto the lower one, and after doing this, jump onto the second one. After doing so, jump up and on top of the building. Walk around untill you see a raised area with a fence type thing on it. It is missing a part an the wall, so jump up and through the hole and walk up to the building mentioned in the paragraph above and walk into it to get the ball. Just punch it and move it untill you knock it off the building and onto the ground. Get yourself down and into a second Wraith and you and your friend can play soccer with the ball and Wraiths...
Second method
There is also one more way of getting the soccer ball down from the roof tops. If you know where the ball is located and just don't know how to get up there, follow these steps. When you come to the part when you can hit the Jackal in the back and steal his beam rifle, look for the gauss hog and go through that area, in the next part stay in the hog until your able to kill everything, but leave a ghost. Get in the ghost and ride up to the part where you recon with the marines (and eventually jump onto the scarab). Make sure you jump onto the Wraith and beat down the driver. Get into the Wraith and drive to the area with the ball. Fire Wraith shots into the area. This takes a very long time but it works. (This may require the Sputnik Skull; For I had the Sputnik skull when I did it, but I am not entirely sure. It would be much more wise to try the other two ways first.)
Third method
This method will only work in co-op. If youre not in co-op you can reach the soccer ball but you'll die trying to get it down (You need the sputnik skull for this) . In metropolis after the indoor waterfall part, the entrance is guarded by a wraith and 2 jackal snipers, there is a big building with a large piece of broken glass. Its right in front of the exit of the waterfall place. Have one player wait in front of the building and the other grenade jump into the big glass crack. From there navigate up the support beams, you need to grenade jump at least once to do it. Once on the top support beam you can exit the roof. From there get to the ball, its around the area with the trees and melee it off the building. If you jump off youll die so thats why you need to be in co-op. From there you can both hijack wraiths and use the wraith boost to play soccer with the other player. This is guaranteed to work but you dont get the fun of using the scarab gun to push the ball around.
Fourth method
It is possible to retrieve the soccer ball by simply grenade-jumping into the huge broken building. Then push the ball off the edge, backtrack into the debris and onto the streets to retreive the ball. NOTE: This requires Sputnik.
Fifth Method
Also, you can get the sputnik skull, and then go to Metropolis. At the point where you come past the area with the waterfall, you will see a ledge covered with trees up high, next to the football. Get a warthog, and make sure it has 3 people in it, otherwise it won't work. Face directly in front of the ledge, on the raised part in the middle of the road. Now throw a grenade at the back wheel, and hop back in. With luck, the warthog will flip through the air onto the ledge of the half broken building. If it doesn't get into the building, just grenade jump up. Enjoy!