AFAIK.. There are about 40k people totally playing yet. I dont think Bf2 will die so soon.
Some great websites to get you going :
BF2S.com - The Numbers Behind Battlefield 2
Battletracker.com
BF2Player.com - Battlefield 2 & Battlefield 2142 stats, info, and signatures
Total Battlefield
and so on.
Check out the forums more than anything else, you will get a lot of information on how to be a champ at it.
Btw, a new patch is on its way. Its v1.5, which has a new map!
The server that i usually play on is =SF= Highway tampa. I get playable pings on it during the night time (~250).
Look out for US/UK based servers, I have hathway as my ISP, so i get pretty OK pings - well atleast playable.
If you cant find the server even after searching you will have to update your vanilla BF2 to 1.41 patch along with the Tampa highway patch. (You will find them one any of the websites ive given you above)
Make sure you update Punkbuster before you play, as you might get kicked in the middle of the battle because of outdated pb client.
You can do that from :
PunkBuster Online Countermeasures
And yes, you need a bit of practice before you can actually "pwn" someone
The most important thing people on bf2 see is the K/D ratio. Stats can be acquired anyhow, but its more of quality kills more than anything as per my experience.
I ve been an owner of a lot of clans and ranked servers in my tenurity, mostly based in Australia. I had great pings with my previous ISP. But now, have to scavenge the game browser for any playable pinged server.
Off lately, i might not be able to join you as my beloved rig is dead. Will take a good couple of weeks before i can join back in, and who knows, i might be as good as a newb on the field again.
Happy killing

|Anish|