Why is this man smiling?

Marc Katz caught up with Pat O'Conner at the Dragons game last night. Here is a little on Pat O'Conner and why he might be smiling.

Pat O’Conner was smiling, even though it was raining Wednesday, May 13, and holding up the game between the Dragons and the West Michigan Whitecaps at Fifth Third Field.

O’Conner was smiling because he’s president of Minor League Baseball, and even in this poor economy, he has a business that’s working well, especially in Dayton.

“I think we’ll have a good year,” said O’Conner, a Grove City native who graduated from Wittenberg College and Ohio University. “We have a model that doesn’t have to be drastically altered.

“There are three things in baseball: the weather, the club you have and everything else. We can’t control the weather, and we can’t control the club (the parent big league team does that). But we can make sure the popcorn is hot, the soda is cold, the seats are dry and the restrooms are clean.”

I've heard that last part before....Not placing it right now.

Oh, brother. How many times does the "Dragons are moving to a AA or AAA League" thing have to be knocked down? One more time apparently...

He also addressed geography, noting “players need to be playing on a field and not sitting on a bus,” which is one reason why the Dragons will remain a low Class A affiliate for the foreseeable future.

Geographically, the Dragons aren’t near any of the three existing Class AA leagues — the Eastern, Southern and Texas leagues. Even high Class A leagues are too far away, and under an agreement with the parent Reds, moving the Dragons into the Class AAA International League would be tough.