There's a good reason why superstars and high performers in companies are, for the most part, high maintenance: because they can be.

They're superstars, after all. Their talent and/or value to the company is such that they get plenty of rope. They've got leverage. They can get away with things that others can't. The low level employees are the ones who can't be late, or miss an assignment, or cop an attitude, or back talk the boss, or bend the rules, mainly because they're expendable. If they left, would the folks who sit in the glass offices notice or even care?

Well, as you might have guessed, this has something to do with Brett Favre.

Winning a Super Bowl and three MVP awards and breathing life into the most historic franchise in the NFL has given Favre a license to behave like a diva. For a long time in Green Bay, not just the last few months, Favre has flexed his considerable muscle within the organization and gotten almost everything he wanted. Because the Packers play in virtual isolation, tucked away in the smallest town in professional sports, this side of Favre has escaped scrutiny. For much of his career, the people in that town were too devoted to the Packers to care much, the national media too in love with the Favre folklore to reveal much, and since Favre never committed a crime or did anything to embarrass himself or the Packers or the game, he got a pass for the small stuff. He was Brett Favre, superstar.

And now that Favre is pushing his weight around again, twisting the Packers' arm to bring him back from a hasty retirement, guess what? The Packers aren't giving him the red carpet treatment and coddling he'd grown accustomed to for 17 years.

Their defiant stance with Favre during these last few uncomfortable weeks has been, well, unprecedented in the sports world and perhaps the real world as well.

First they told Favre he wasn't wanted back.

Then they offered to pay him millions to stay retired.

Then they told him he'd be the backup quarterback.

Then they told him he'd have to fight for a starting job that he never actually gave up.

And finally, now that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Favre and essentially forced the Packers to take him back, they've flashed a phony grin and team president Mark Murphy made the cryptic comment that "we will welcome him back and turn this situation to our advantage."

Not Favre's advantage.

Their advantage.

Well, look: The double standard by which the Packers and other organizations operate, when it comes to their most valued employees, isn't always fair. In some ways, it stinks. But such is life. And in this situation, a messy one caused by Favre when he prematurely retired last March, the Packers are doing him a disservice.

Favre hasn't earned respect the last few weeks, but the Packers should show him some, anyway.

Why? Because he's Brett Favre. Because, in case you forgot, he has done a lot for Green Bay and the Packers. And because they don't have anyone better at quarterback. Until he proves otherwise, or until someone better comes along, Favre is still the company superstar.

The Packers have mishandled this situation a lot worse than Favre did the football against the Giants in the NFC title game. Let's get this straight: He must fight for the quarterback job? Favre never lost the job, and Aaron Rodgers hasn't done anything to win it. Favre is coming off a solid year, NFC title game aside. Rodgers has collected money for nothing. Ask his teammates who they'd rather have taking snaps. Even better: ask the rest of the NFL who'd they rather see taking snaps.

By declaring an open competition, the Packers guaranteed themselves a zoo after every practice and every game. Each pass and interception will be double scrutinized, and if Rodgers is "declared" the winner, when he throws an incompletion, or an interception, chaos will surely follow. That's not only unfair to Favre, it's unfair to Rodgers. His chance will come soon enough, just not as long as Favre is around.

The Packers should either show Favre the respect he has earned for almost two decades or show him the door, even if that means sending him to Minnesota or Chicago. Anything is acceptable except the status quo, which helps no one, least of all, us.

We'd like to see this go away faster than the Packers and Favre.