Mankato, Minn. ? Vikings players ride bicycles from their dorm rooms to practice at training camp, to save time and avoid signing autographs. As the 80 players who have reported to camp took the field for their first practice on Friday afternoon, a white bike remained in front of the players’ dorm.

It was adorned with the number 4, a reminder that Brett Favre, the Hamlet of Hattiesburg, has placed his comfort over the needs and wants of a team offering to pay him $13 million for six months of employment, and again placed himself on a different plane than his teammates.

Favre’s bike is like Jim Thome’s favorite glove or Glen Taylor’s trophy case: It will never be used.

Vikings coach Brad Childress is right to wait for Favre, but Favre is wrong to keep Childress waiting.

Favre’s teammates and Vikings management seem content with his insistence on extending his summer vacation, but Favre is being illogical, irresponsible and lazy.

None of his excuses for skipping training camp makes sense.

He wants more time at home? He’s been in Hattiesburg, Miss., since January, he’ll be back by February, and if and when he does retire, he’ll be there for the rest of his life.

He can’t stand training camp? This is not an old-school camp, where coaches try to break down players for the purposes of developing toughness and encouraging male bonding. There are badminton tournaments with more hitting than these practices, and the team has moved into a cushy new dorm with air conditioning, and camp lasts two weeks, not a month.

He doesn’t like practice? Vikings players should be insulted that Favre would rather throw to high school receivers in 100-degree heat than throw to them in 80-degree comfort.

He wants to conserve his arm and energy? Favre would have just as much control over his workload in Mankato as he does at Oak Grove High.

He doesn’t need much work to get ready? That proved true last season, when the Vikings began with games against two of the worst teams in existence, the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions.

This year, the Vikings begin with a game that is as ominous as it is symbolic — an opener in New Orleans. Favre will not be able to pitch-and-putt his way to an easy victory while he reacclimates to the realities of the NFL.

The team that practiced in Mankato on Friday is as talented and deep as any in the NFL. If you want to find reason for concern in this camp other than Sidney Rice’s hip or Cedric Griffin’s knee, you need only look at the Vikings’ two most renowned players, Favre and Adrian Peterson.

No one with the team would want to hear this term, but Favre is conducting a holdout. He is under contract and sure to play, so his absence should be called nothing less.

Peterson fumbled nine times and botched one handoff last season. In his three seasons, his yards-per-rush average has dropped from 5.6 to 4.8 to 4.4.

He spent four days this offseason at Winter Park, missing most team activities.

Favre and Peterson avoided working with their team this summer, shirked tasks that would be expected of teammates. Their absences may not damage the Vikings, but any interception Favre throws in New Orleans and any fumble Peterson leaves on the ground in Green Bay will stand as proof that they spent this summer tempting fate and avoiding duty.