In its coverage of the World Cup final, the New York Times website included a link to a YouTube video clip showing the French team's captain, Zinedine Zidane, head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi's chest after an apparent exchange of words, reports MediaPost.

The inclusion of that link in a sidebar by one of the country's leading publications may be remembered as the moment YouTube truly went mainstream - although the viral video site has signed a video distribution deal with NBC, and Walt Disney just ran an ad campaign on the site.

A French user posted the clip on YouTube within an hour of its being aired on Television Francaise 1. Not surprisingly, it garnered nearly 1.2 million views within 24 hours. Zidane was ejected from the final, France lost the World Cup, and we still don't know what Materazzi said to inflame Zidane so. We do know, though, that France has forgiven him.