Far-off sport scandal

Imagine an NFL referee taking bribes to fix the outcome of games—specifically, half a dozen games not involving playoff teams but also a first-round playoff game. When the crime is discovered, investigators come to believe that other referees have fixed games, and there's also word that as many as a dozen players may be on the take.

It happened in Germany last fall and came to light last month. There is, of course, a lot of reporting about this in the international press; it's the second time major corruption has turned up in German soccer (the previous was 1971). My own favorite team, VfB Stuttgart, apparently isn't involved.