Zidane146;s last action butt of all jokes

The head-butt: it8217;s the new butt of Internet jokes. As swiftly as a speeding shot on goal...

The head-butt: it8217;s the new butt of Internet jokes. As swiftly as a speeding shot on goal, riffs on Zinedine Zidane8217;s infamous moment of soccer rage have invaded cyberspace. Though fans across the world are clearly divided on whether the French star deserves condemnation or sympathy for head-butting Italy8217;s Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final, the web has been typically merciless.

Some jokes take the form of interactive games.

Wondering, for example, how many Marco Materazzis you could knock down with a single butt to the chest? addictinggames.com gives you the chance: just a left click of the mouse, and the Zidane figure goes to work against a sea of Italian defenders. The game gives you a red-card score at the end.

Yesterday, the most viewed video on youtube.com, the popular site for user-posted videos, was 8220;a new way to solve problems8221;, from Austria, in which a succession of a dozen or so innocent street encounters culminate in 8212; you guessed it, the head-butt.

Example: a tourist with a map asks a bicyclist for directions. The bicyclist gets off to help, but can8217;t. 8220;You don8217;t know?8221; The suddenly angry tourist exclaims. Thwak! A header to the chest.

Just under 600,000 people had viewed the video by late Wednesday, and many added comments supportive of Zidane. So did the video8217;s makers: 8220;We are not against Zidane, he is still the best. Ok!!8221;

Also on the site: A video where instead of simply collapsing after the head-butt, Materazzi erupts in flames, too.

Zidane made his first public comments about the head-butt in an interview on yesterday on French TV. He offered repeated apologies 8212; especially to children who watched it 8212; but not regrets, saying Materazzi made cruel inults to his mother and sister.

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It might be some comfort to Zidane fans that the France captain isn8217;t the only one being mocked.

Another video circulating widely for the past few days is actually from 2004. In an ad for Britain8217;s Guardian newspaper, a fictitious soccer team 8212; dubbed Italy8217;s, by the various users who8217;ve posted it to youtube 8212; is practising for the Euro 2004 championships. But what are they practising?

Tumbling to the ground in exaggerated agony, clutching themselves and gesturing for the referee to take notice.