Elie Wiesel recently spoke at the White House on the “Perils of Indifference.” Wiesel is of the Holocaust, a victim. He is a Nobel Laureate, an award-winning author. He is a man who searches out the wretches of life, the worst of the inhuman atrocities of our time, that they not be forgotten or ignored.

His message at the White House was of history’s recurring theme that those who are indifferent to life’s evils will come to suffer those evils themselves.

One must stand up and be counted or be run over.

The subject of this column is invisible when compared to the events Wiesel covers. Nevertheless, it is still best not to be indifferent at the nearly laughable “atrocities” occurring in sports on an all too regular basis. For today, let’s begin with Latrell Sprewell of the New York Knicks.

The Knicks have shocked the NBA and a few of its teams by playing even with the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, a round most of the basketball world thought the Knicks would never see. Sprewell has played decently and been at the center of key moments in this Knick run.

The other night on a national sports program, Sprewell was referred to as the “new prince of New York.” Let’s sound the buzzer on this one right here.

This is the same Latrell Sprewell who choked his former NBA coach and threatened to kill him. This is the same Sprewell who later sued the NBA when it took action against him for this blatant assault. This is the same Sprewell who has shown little remorse or regard for a vicious act that anyone else would probably have had to serve jail time.

The “prince of New York?” A lot of people might sarcastically say that is precisely the kind of person worthy of that title, but let’s get serious.

This is not a repented soul who has sought to do better. This is another hugely spoiled athlete, held responsible for nothing, who is an example of what not to be in life. So, he gets a couple of key moments in an NBA rife with horrible basketball and he suddenly is held up as athletic royalty.

One need not be indifferent to that kind of insanity.

Then there is Darryl Strawberry. One more time it’s drug possession and one more time MLB can’t figure out what to do. After pleading no contest to cocaine possession and solicitation of a hooker, and that amounts to an entry of a guilty plea, Strawberry received 18 months probation and more of that euphemism “community service.”

Every Tampa defense lawyer with a client convicted of drug use or possession should force the courts to review the Strawberry case before issuing punishment. Is there equal justice?

Now MLB must decide what to do with Strawberry. Is anyone doing him a favor by giving him one more chance without clear ramifications for further violations? That issue should have been dealt with convictions ago.

Sadly, such stories are so easy to come by. You can pick up a sports page and throw a dart at it and have a real good chance of hitting one. Wiesel noted in his talk that we become indifferent in a short time span when our emotions are repeatedly bombarded with injustices. They become the norm and we stop caring.

When that norm involves sports and sports figures, at least we are just talking about games. However, those games and the people who play them have acquired an undue influence in our society, especially since we hold them up to emulation for kids without knowing who these athletes are as people. That is not a matter for indifference.

NEWS columnist Gary Thorne, an Old Town native, is an ESPN and CBS broadcaster.