Toby Guillette is Active.com's Endurance Online Community Specialist. He is an outdoor-adventure-sports aficionado specializing in ultra-running.

With Barry Bonds approaching the Major League Baseball home run record at a steady pace, the uncomfortable discussion of his hall-of-fame worthiness continues to underscore the priorities of American professional sports.

European bicycle racing has been the target of major doping scandals, investigations and confessions for decades. The endless cycle of use, detection and deception has recently injected its presence into professional baseball and steroid testing is now prevalent throughout the league. The slippery slope includes widespread use of human growth hormone (HGH) because there is not a test designed or administered to target the use of HGH. Now a urine test is in the developmental stages and thus the cycle continues.

The consequence for doping in the sport of professional cycling can cost an athlete his records, sponsorship and career while Major League Baseball players pay fines and serve multi-game suspensions. Even under the most aggressive circumstances, athletes in our society are encouraged to risk it all when the reward of sports success outweighs the punishment and stigma associated with the use performance enhancing drugs.

Whether Bonds enters the history books accompanied by an asterisk, or not, the origin of this subject remains the relationship of sport to our society. The complex web of commerce, media and politics will always dictate what the consumer deems moral or not. Fans will continue to buy tickets and tune in across the country to watch these modern-day super heroes ���go yard.���

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  Leap of Faith    Originally uploaded by Active.com </span></div>

He is rounding third for the play at the plate, the throw is in time. He takes the &quot;Leap of faith&quot;, the catcher tags his trailing foot and he is called out! Wait, the dust settles and the ball comes out and the ruling is overturned...SAFE!!!

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While growing up, I was a faithful subscriber to Sports Illustrated for Kids. One of my favorite parts of the magazine was a section titled, ���You Make the Call.��� There were three situations every issue that tested your knowledge on the rules of various sports.

Here is a Little League situation that I came across today. You make the call:

Runners on first and third, one out. Batter hits a fly ball to centerfield which is caught. Runner on first left when the batter hit the ball and before he could return, is doubled at first. Runner on third crosses plate before out is made at first. Does the run score?

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Baseball* and softball season is in full swing and one of the hottest topics this year is the metal-versus-wood bat debate. I thought it was the end of the road for the debate a couple weeks ago when the New York City council overrode a mayoral veto of the bill

to ban metal bats. However, the debate is far from over. In fact, it is moving from the field into the courtroom.

Sporting goods companies and organizations that sponsor high school baseball nationwide filed a lawsuit against New York City and its decision to ban metal baseball bats in high school games.

Proponents of the new law say metal bats increase the risk of injury because they cause balls to move faster and don���t allow young players enough time to react. An example of this that is often cited is when a 12-year-old boy in New Jersey went into cardiac arrest after he was struck in the chest by a ball. But an American Legion Baseball study in 2005 found no substantial scientific proof that wooden bats are safer than metal bats.

The Associated Press reported that, ���The lawsuit says New York City's law would harm high school players, coaches, schools and bat manufacturers because it would increase costs for players and teams and would make high school baseball less enjoyable and less competitive.��� It also contends that the law is unconstitutional because it discriminates against the use of metal and nonwood composite bats without any rational basis.

I can���t make myself believe that a baseball reacts the same off a wooden bat as it does off a metal one. Perhaps a different study would produce varying results. But even if it didn���t ��� what���s the harm in changing over to wooden bats all the way up? It is how the game was originally designed to be played. It has a pure quality about it. If it does happen to be safer for youth athletes, it���s a win-win situation.

What do you think ��� should metal bats be banned from baseball?

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                              David Rhode used to sell detergent and dishwashing liquid. Now he sells the power of baseball.

Rhode is founder and Executive Director of Pitch In For Baseball,

a charity that collects &quot;gently used&quot; baseball equipment and

distributes it to teams around the world who have difficulties

acquiring the gear necessary to play America's pastime. &quot;We get stuff

and we give it away,&quot; David says with a chuckle. &quot;It's not meant to be

complicated.&quot;

It may not be complicated, but it certainly has been successful. So

far Pitch In For Baseball has supervised the delivery of over 12,000

pieces of equipment to locations as diverse as Eastern Europe and the

Middle East.

Rhode hit upon the idea after a stint as a marketing associate for

Proctor and Gamble, and 12 years running the family automotive repair

business. &quot;I turned 40 and was looking for something more meaningful.

After we sold the business, I met a local guy who was collecting

baseball gloves for kids in Poland. I told him, 'That's a great idea.

Can I steal it?'&quot;

Read on to learn more about how Pitch In For Baseball has helped kids and communities across the world.

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Little League Baseball and Softball will be teaming up with several college softball programs throughout the U. S. this season to provide local Little League softball teams a special experience ��� Little League Softball Days.

On Little League Softball Day, Little Leaguers, their parents and local league volunteers may attend the hosting institution���s regular-season game free of charge, or in some cases at a discounted rate. The players will come dressed in their Little League uniform jerseys, and following the games will be permitted onto the field to meet the collegiate players and coaches.

This is such a great initiative. I would have loved a chance to meet college softball players after one of their games when I was young as I looked up to the older softball players a great deal. Now, more than 364,000 Little League Softball players are welcome to take part in this unique experience that will benefit all of those involved. For as excited as the youngsters will be to meet the college ballplayers, hopefully the student-athletes will be reminded of why they fell in love with and play the game of softball. 

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A woman's work is never done.  Or, in the case of umpiring a big-league baseball game, rarely done. I picked up a Chicago Sun-Times before work this morning and came across an article about how minor league umpire, Ria Cortesio, is scheduled to be on the bases for tomorrow's Cubs-Diamondbacks game in Mesa, Arizona. She will be the first female ump in a major-league game since spring training games in 1989.

Cortesio is the only female umpire in pro ball. She will be in her fifth season at Class AA and ninth overall. &quot;I was kind of expecting it,&quot; she said. &quot;Umpires with my seniority usually get picked. I'm looking forward to it. There will be a lot more people in the stands than I'm used to.&quot; 

Cubs first baseman, Derek Lee, commented, &quot;It's awesome. I think it's about time. Female eyes are as good as male eyes. Why can't they be umpires? Good for her.&quot;

I think it's good for baseball, too. It is about time. I hope this story reaches girls who have thought that they might want to be an umpire but thought it wasn't their place. I wonder how long it will be until a female umpire gets to work a regular season MLB game.

During my college softball years I would hear comments, many times from other females, about how female umps were all terrible. Generalizations and stereotypes such as this are unfair, in my opinion. There are some terrible female and male umpires. There are also outstanding female and male umpires.

What are your experiences with female umpires? Do you support women as umpires in the major leagues?

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Bluffton University* will play baseball this season despite the deaths of five players who were killed when the team bus toppled off an overpass on March 2 while on a trip to Florida.

&quot;It's important they get back on the field and do what they love,&quot; athletic director Phill Talavinia said Tuesday.

He said the players on the team were unanimous in their decision, but they first wanted to make sure the families of those killed agreed. The team will wear all-black uniforms to honor the five players: Scott Harmon, Tyler Williams, Cody Holp, David Betts and Zach Arend.

I cannot begin to imagine the pain of losing members of such a close-knit family that is a college athletic team and the strength it would take to continue your season in honor of them. Instances like these serve as gut-checks, as opportunities to reflect and make sure you���re making the most out of your time. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the Bluffton community.

(Photo provided by Getty Images/Image Source)