Jersey Thursday: "Galactico" Edition

Bringing back Jersey Thursday after a week off.

This is the 2011-12 shirt for Real Madrid C.F. of Spain. Yes it is pretty clean, and no it's not their away shirt (think home whites in baseball, too...it happens). At first glance one might equate the gold stripes with championships. And he'd be right. The problem is that for a club as successful as Real Madrid (a record 9 European Cups, 31 Spanish titles - also a record) those titles have been a little harder to come by lately.

In more recent years, "Los Meringues" were labeled by a previous club president as "Los Galacticos." No, that's not a nod to our friends Landon and David's MLS club on the Left Coast. The name is derived from the huge ("galactic") names in the game that the club has always attracted. In the past 15 years, names like Ronaldo (the Brazilian one), Figo, Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Beckham, and Raul have put on the white shirt. Today, you can add Cristiano Ronaldo (the guido one), Higuain, and Sergio Ramos to the list.

And those guys did not come cheap. Several of those names came to the Bernabeu for record-breaking transfer fees (Cristiano Ronaldo's from Manchester United the most recent world record). On paper, Madrid always looks stacked. But they're without a La Liga title since '08. Why is that?

Let's not mince history, F.C. Barcelona (Real's most bitter rivals) have been freakin' GOOD. Barcelona has been winning La Liga since '08. Barcelona has won 2 European Cups in the past 3 years. Barcelona had seven of the starting Spanish starting XI that beat the Netherlands and won the World Cup in 2010 (Real had two).

But let's get back to the shirt. With all of the history and the sticky "Galacticos" label, these gold stripes become more like a red target. Every team already wanted to beat Madrid. But when you're star player looks like this in his gold stripes

victory tastes just a little sweeter. Let's be real, as much as we Americans loved sprinter Michael Johnson wearing gold track shoes at the 1996 Summer Olympics (ATL represent), he would have looked a fool had he not actually won. If you're going to flaunt it, you better have it.

And let's not forget the US Women and their gold kit from the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup...They finished third.

Do Real have it? Do they have what it takes to overcome their "Antimadridista" rivals from the east? What do you think? I don't think so, but that's just me. Either way, here's hoping that the La Liga season provides us more excitement and drama this season. As long as Real Madrid is in the league, I don't think we'll need to worry about a deficit.