A Bridge too big to cross?

I'd like to weigh in with my two cents/pence on the whole Wayne Bridge - John Terry thing.

(For those either living under a rock, who don't follow football/socccer or distracted by Cheryl and Ashley Cole's marrital woes, it recently was undercovered that John Terry slept with Bridge's ex-girlfriend, and mother of his child (same person, not one mother, one girlfriend), when they both played for Chelsea).

I have a respect for Bridge for his decision to withdraw himself from the England squad because he felt that he could not spend large amounts of time in the company of Terry. This was a big decision for Bridge because of, the aforementioned, Cole (who is first choice for England in the left back position) being injured thus Bridge, whom is his understudy (what is it with left backs and their ability to be involved in affairs of the heart or some other appendage!?), being the obvious choice to start the match as well as likely to be first choice left back in the upcoming World Cup, if Cole was not to recover from his fractures leg.

He has potentially handed away his last chance to compete at the highest level, especially when he was likely to get a lot of game time. This shows real character.
There was apparently a lot of pressure on Bridge to put his principles aside and do what is best for his career and professional profile. Yet Bridge chose to be the bigger man.

And he did not bow to pressure to show any respect to Terry during the traditional hand shake before the encounter between Bridge's Manchester City and Terry's Chelsea today.

I have been reliably informed by former coaches at Chelsea FC that Bridge was one of the hardest working players there. One of the only ones to do extra sessions in the gym to try to improve himself. This could be because he was always behind Cole in the pecking order for both England and Chelsea, and he felt he needed to improve himself. But many of a pro footballer would have just gone about their work, knowing that Cole, being a bit of a poster boy for football and hailed as, debatably, the best left back in the world, was very unlikely to be dropped from the team.

Without knowing the man, I assume that Bridge realised his position within English football and worked hard to make himself a better athlete, simply because that is what he is paid to and wanted do. This mental attitude and his ability to stand by his principles in this whole affair (mind the pun) has lifted Bridge even higher in my esteam.

Good on you Wayne Bridge!