The Chicago Blackhawks won the NHL draft lottery and the chance to take Connor Bedard long before Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly revealed it on national television. The final lottery ball giving the Blackhawks the opportunity to draft Bedard popped out of a machine 80 minutes earlier. The roughly 20 people in the room to witness the drawing were sequestered there without access to phones or other communication devices until Daly revealed the card with the Blackhawks logo. The entire process emceed by Commissioner Gary Bettman is filmed for posterity. Anaheim, San Jose, Arizona, Washington and St. Louis also had a chance down to the final lottery ball.

Former Minnesota Vikings and Cal quarterback Joe Kapp has died at the age of 85. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Kapp led the Vikings to their first Super Bowl appearance and Cal to its last Rose Bowl. He also played in Canada and is the only QB to lead his team to a Rose Bowl, Super Bowl and Grey Cup. Kapp also coached at Cal for five seasons.

Sports wagering experts say it was a matter of time before college gambling scandals surfaced. Last week, the Alabama baseball coach was fired after suspicious wagering activity was detected on a game involving the Crimson Tide. This week, both Iowa and Iowa State announced gambling investigations involving some of their athletes. Keith Whyte is executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. He expects investigations at other schools to follow. East Carolina assistant professor Michelle L. Malkin says sports betting has become part of college culture. NCAA rules prohibit athletes, coaches and staff from betting on most sports.

Automatic balls and strikes could soon be coming to the major leagues. Much like the players themselves, the robo-umps are working their way up through the minors with the goal being promoted to the show. The goal is to eliminate the individual and sometimes inconsistent strike zones that vary from umpire to umpire, and with it the possibility that a game can turn on a bad ball/strike call. Disappearing with that are the complaints that an umpire's strike zone was too wide or a pitcher was getting squeezed, followed by the helmet-slamming, dirt-kicking dustups that are practically as old as the sport itself.

The Indianapolis Colts want other NFL teams to know they consider contacting former quarterback Andrew Luck to be tampering. Team owner Jim Irsay made that clear late Sunday night in a Twitter post. Luck abruptly retired in August 2019 at age 29 with three years left on his contract. He's shown no indication he wants to return and appears to have slimmed down significantly from his listed playing weight of 240 pounds.

Americans have bet over $220 billion on sports with legal gambling outlets in the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for all 50 states to offer it. The industry shows few signs of slowing despite some recent scandals that have put a spotlight on wagering safeguards. When Sunday’s anniversary of the court ruling in a case brought by New Jersey arrives, two-thirds of the country will offer legal sports betting, with additional states likely to join in coming months or years.

James Harden hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds left in overtime and scored 42 points to help the Philadelphia 76ers stave off a wild Boston Celtics comeback in a 116-115 victory on Sunday that evened their playoff series at 2-2. Marcus Smart’s potential winner was a tick too late and the Celtics now head home for Tuesday’s Game 5.

Sam Reinhart scored 3:02 into overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. Reinhart dumped the puck off the boards behind the net to set up his game-winner, taking a pass back from Anton Lundell and scoring to give Florida its first 3-0 series lead in 27 years.