6/7/2009: Yuma, AZ – Draft day is hard on any ownership team.  There are thousands of pages of scouting reports, news clippings, and interviews to read through.  There are hundreds of questions from the press.  There are dozens of angles by which to review every prospect.

But things just got a little harder on the Bakersfield Bears brain trust: yesterday they learned that Paul Benedict, a 2% minority owner of the Bears (and an actor famous for his turns as Mr. Harry Bentley in “The Jeffersons”, and a “twisted old fruit” in This Is Spın̈al Tap), passed away at the age of 70.

Benedict – one of the class acts of the league – became a huge baseball fan while working on the set of “The Jeffersons”.  While his leveraged bid (with the assistance of Carl Ichan) to take over the Palm Springs Codgers nearly ended in his financial and personal ruin, Benedict was eventually able to fulfill his dream of major league ownership.  In a highly controversial move, Aric Kinast (Bears owner-manager) sold Benedict a 2% share in the Bears.  In exchange, Benedict was required to “drop in” on Kinast’s apartment once a week and offer Bentley's unique brand of English wit.  The relationship soured recently, however, as Kinast’s similar deal with Shavar Ross (most famous for his incomparable roll as Dudley on “Diff'rent Strokes”) sometimes resulted in the two actors visiting at the same time, thereby completely ruining the novelty of the arrangement.

The Bears released a single-sentence statement to the press today, delivered by a sobbing Kinast: “We dedicate this draft, and this season, to the memory of Mr. Benedict, whose role as Mr. Bentley brought joy and happiness to millions.”