Today, weather permitting, the Boston Red Sox celebrate their 2006 home opener at historic Fenway Park.

Like most of you, I’m tired of all the steroid talk. Performance-enhancing drugs and the subsequent fines and investigations will do nothing to deter thousands of fans from enjoying the spring of the year and the thrill of what is still America’s pastime.

Headlines may have been dominated lately by talk of drugs and home-run records, but is there anything more wonderful than a lively spring crowd on a crisp April day, the smell of peanuts and hot mustard in the air, providing the hors d’oeuvres for a feast for the senses?

Through the years, major league baseball has survived a variety of woes. From world wars to labor unrest, the game always finds a way to right itself and continue on stronger than it was before.

This time out, steroids and the use of performance-enhancing substances have dominated the news. The pall hovering over the game centers on a handful of players – not all of whom are stars, by the way – and threatens to engulf the game like nothing else in its history.

Personally, I don’t think it will happen. I also don’t think that all this steroid talk will dampen the enthusiasm for a game that has always pulled us out of winter’s doldrums and put us on track for the joys only summer can bring.

Here’s why.

Most of us by now are so saturated with this steroid stuff that we are turning a deaf ear to everything from the nightly diatribes emanating from all the talking heads on television to what is transpiring in the league offices to try and finally address a problem that has been rampant for some time.

If San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds is the linchpin for the whole mess, then we need to turn our attention to players who represent all that’s good in the game.

Boston designated hitter David Ortiz immediately comes to mind when we’re searching for what is right about baseball.

The general public, for example, doesn’t want to spend its prime vacation months wallowing in all the heavy news of steroid use.

It would be better to concentrate on what is good about the game.

Forget exorbitant ticket prices and concentrate on the purity of the game.

In Maine, those who can’t afford high ticket prices at Fenway Park should make the trek to Hadlock Field in Portland to watch the Sea Dogs, who are Boston’s Double-A affiliate.

The tickets are one-tenth the price, the park is clean, and the smell of leather mixes quite nicely there, too, with mustard, beer, and all the rest.

Baseball will always be what we had in our youth.

Baseball will always be kids sitting on the front steps, waiting for dad to come home to play catch.

Baseball will always be the sounds of the radio on warm summer nights, bringing us all the action. We cherish the voices of those talented broadcasters who can recreate the sights and the sounds of play for millions who can’t be at the ballpark themselves.

No wars, no labor strikes, and certainly no investigations into substance abuse, can rob us of our national pastime.

BDN columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net