Strong, silent types

A look back at some of Q&A's subjects who embrace the art of brevity:

Derek Jeter (July 5, 2009)

Q: Can you envision yourself playing another position for the Yankees than shortstop?

A: Can I envision? No.

Q: What if they asked you?

A: You're speaking in all hypotheticals.

Q: I know.

A: I can't answer that question.

Q: What's your key to stealing bases?

A: If you think you can make it, run. If you don't, stay.

Hakeem Nicks (Sept. 8 2009)

Q: Describe Hakeem Nicks off the field.

A: Laid-back ... calm ... don't say much. I ain't gonna say I stay to myself, but just a laid-back person.

Q: Now describe Hakeem Nicks on the field.

A: Totally opposite from what I am off the field (smiles).

Q: As soon as you put the uniform on, what happens?

A: I'm a different person (smiles).

Yogi Berra (Sept. 19, 2008)

Q: When you were catching, who was the best guy to talk to at home plate?

A: Ted Williams I could talk with. Ted used to get mad at me.

Q: What would you say to him?

A: "Where you going fishin'?"

Q: You did it to distract him?

A: No, I didn't do it to distract him. Just to find out what he does during the winter.

Q; What did Ted Williams say to you?

A: He said, "Shut up."

Q: What did you say?

A; I said, "If you don't talk to me, I'll never talk to you again."

Q: What has it been like being Yogi Berra?

A: I really don't know, I couldn't tell you.

Pedro Martinez (Sept. 19, 2008)

Q: Describe what it's like pitching at this time of year at Yankee Stadium.

A: It's just a regular game.

Q: How about the atmosphere at Yankee Stadium?

A: Don't mean a thing to me.

Q: What's the funniest thing a fan has said to you at Yankee Stadium?

A: Nothing funny. Everything is rude.

Q: When you're on the mound, describe your mentality, your mindset.

A: I can't do that.

Q: Why?

A: 'Cause I'm not giving you tips.

Q: Do you pitch in a controlled rage, would you say?

A: What is this, a psychology test? I'm not commenting about that.

Sebastian Telfar (Sept. 19, 2008)

Q: Are you going to get a new car with your new riches?

A: Not right now, but I'm pretty sure sometime I will.

Q: Any other plans for your money?

A: Get my mother a nice house.

Q: Where?

A: Wherever she wants to move.

Q: The best thing about Coney Island?

A: There's a basketball court on every block.

Q: The worst thing about Coney Island?

A: It's cold, 'cause we're close to the water.

Q; Describe the Cyclone for people who haven't been on it.

A: It's a roller coaster (laughs). It goes fast, and it goes up and down, does a lot of turns.

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Despite loss, Rangers’ Biron shows his language fluency

MONTREAL — Rangers backup goalie Martin Biron is never one to shy away from a conversation, but it's not too often he has to do it in two languages.

Before Saturday night's 3-0 loss to the Canadiens at the Bell Center, Biron prepared for his fourth start of the season by speaking French and English to cameras and reporters that flocked to him like bees on honey.

"It is a special thing for any player coming into Montreal," said Biron, who is from Lac St. Charles, Quebec, about three hours up the St. Lawrence River outside of Quebec City.

"It's fun when you're here. The energy is really high. As a player, you try not to get sucked into the energy so you're out of position and maybe take a penalty. As a goalie, sometimes the energy is great."

That's only for some goalies, which does not include starter Henrik Lundqvist. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner has not performed well throughout his career at the Bell Center, having played 666 minutes with a record of 4-5-2, a 3.87 goals-against average and a .876 save percentage. Saturday night, Biron had 18 saves in 21 shots for just a .833 save percentage.

Lundqvist repeatedly has said the energy in the building gets him too excited to play, and that he can be overanxious and try too hard.

Biron has an answer for that.

"I try to simplify things when I play," Biron said. "A simple game is a great game."

* Coach John Tortorella reviewed the tape from Thursday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Senators in Ottawa, and what stood out to him was the end of the game when the team blew a 2-1 lead. More specifically, he pointed out a holding penalty on Brian Boyle that lead to the game-tying goal from Mika Zibanejad.

"Where I'm little distressed, we didn't close it out," Tortorella said. "We take a stupid penalty, just a lack of positioning. I thought we failed there as far as our heart. It's a great teaching part of it."

Boyle started Saturday night as the center of a fourth line with Brandon Mashinter and Christian Thomas, the latter making his NHL debut. Boyle was also seen leaving the arena with a noticeable limp. He played just 9:36 and had a -1 plus-minus rating.

bcyrgalis@nypost.com

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Lin-ning situation: Jeremy thriving with Rockets

It was only a year ago Jeremy Lin was at the center of the American sports universe, going from a player on the verge of being cut for a third time in a single season to scoring 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the span of a few short weeks.

Now, just 12 months later, Lin is far away from the bright lights of New York and the heights of Linsanity, but still is playing well alongside James Harden in Houston's backcourt.

"I don't really spend much time reminiscing during the season, at least, but it's something that I'm thankful for and will always remember," said Lin, who scored nine points and added six assists in the Nets' 106-96 loss to the Rockets Friday night at Barclays Center. "I realize it's a little over a year ago, and that's just a little crazy to think about, to think about how much it's changed."

It was against the Nets — and, specifically, Deron Williams — that Linsanity began last February, when Lin came off the bench and scored 25 points in just under 36 minutes in a 99-92 Knicks' win at the Garden on Super Bowl Saturday.

But when Lin looked across the court at William, he still saw one of the league's elite point guards, despite the subpar season Williams has put together.

"He's a great, great, point guard," Lin said. "I know people are kind of on him and saying he's having an off-year, but, shoot, I'll take an off-year if it's whatever he's doing and how well he's playing.

"If that's his off-year, that just tells you how good he really is. Obviously his numbers may be down a little, but I think it's just a different role, different team, different style, but I think he's still a top, top point guard in the entire league."

As for Lin, he went through his own fair share of criticism this season when he started out slowly alongside Harden, who took off like a supernova after the Rockets acquired him in a trade with the Thunder just days before the start of the season.

But Harden and Lin have begun to look better together as the season has gone along, something both attributed to having more time to get used to one another. That was never more evident than it was Wednesday against the Thunder, when Harden scored 46 and Lin finished with 29 points, six rebounds and eight assists in a Rockets' win.

"I think with anybody you can't expect two players who like to make their teammates better and like to score the basketball mesh right away," Harden said. "It took us some time, and we're playing well. Last game, he played well and I played well, so it's just a matter of us playing more games, more practices and just communicating better."

When Lin left the Knicks, it looked like he was headed to a young Rockets team that was going to need time to develop to turn into a playoff contender, particularly in the loaded Western Conference, even after it acquired Harden. But Houston (31-26) has surprised everyone — including Lin himself — by spending the first half of the season occupying a playoff spot.

"I think we have exceeded expectations coming in, because no one really knew what to expected," said Lin, who entered the game averaging 12.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.9 steals. "We didn't even know what to expect.

"We're happy, but we're definitely not satisfied."

tbontemps@nypost.com

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Father of Pistorius' slain girlfriend says Blade Runner will have to 'live with his conscience' if he's lying

JOHANNESBURG — The father of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend has told a South African newspaper that the athlete will have to "live with his conscience" if he is lying about how he killed her.

In its Saturday edition, the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper quotes Barry Steenkamp as saying Pistorius will "suffer" alone if his assertion that he accidentally shot 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp is false.

Barry Steenkamp says he might be able to forgive Pistorius one day if the double-amputee Olympian is telling the truth.

Pistorius was released on bail on Friday. He is charged with premeditated murder in the Valentine's Day slaying of his girlfriend.

Getty Images

Barry Steenkamp

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VIP hostess sues Midtown hot spot Lavo for causing her 'hearing loss'

A star-studded Midtown nightclub blasted music so loud that it caused a VIP hostess serious hearing loss, a new lawsuit states.

Margaret Clemente claims Lavo's thunderous dance music made her nearly deaf in one ear — rendering her unemployable — after bosses ignored repeated complaints about the noise.

"When I talk to people, it sounds like mumbling. I really struggle to hear," Clemente told The Post.

The aspiring actress said honchos at the hot spot — which has hosted such celebrities as Leonardo DiCaprio, Heidi Klum and Paris Hilton — pressured her to leave when she reported the disability.

NY Post: Chad Rachman

IT'S A 'BLAST':Margaret Clemente (above) says Lavo (below) is way too loud.

She said it's now hard to find a job in the noisy nightlife business.

"I'm depressed. It's been daunting. I'm stressed out and distraught," said Clemente, who worked at the club for two years and earned $42 an hour plus $500 in nightly tips.

The suit claims Lavo management refused to provide hearing aides to workers after complaints from Clemente and other staffers. In July, a newspaper exposed the club's "dangerously high decibel levels," prompting owners to provide earplugs, the suit notes.

But even then, nightclub owners only provided cheap foam earplugs — while treating themselves to high-end, custom-made ones, according to the suit.

Clemente said it got harder and harder to communicate on the job, using her work-mandated radio earpiece, which helped her alert fellow staffers about A-list clients.

She soon went to an audiologist, who confirmed she had "extreme difficulty hearing," court papers state.

But when she asked her bosses to be moved to a less noisy section of the club — or to work outside, at the door — her requests fell on deaf ears, she said.

"Things got ugly. They were no longer willing to keep me on," she said.

In September, her bosses began "acting out against [her] due to her recently diagnosed disability," the lawsuit states. Clemente eventually stopped working there.

The complaint comes after a New York Times investigation last summer exposed the club for thumping music at 96 decibels — comparable to a power mower, which caused workers headaches.

Employers are required to provide workers with ear protection when exposing them to noise at that level for 3 1/2 hours or more.

Lavo management did not return calls seeking comment.

Attorneys Matthew Blit and Russell Moriarty filed the lawsuit last night in Manhattan.

It notes that Clemente, who began working at Lavo in October 2010, was "a highly successful employee regularly receiving praise from management."

jamie.schram@nypost.com

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Two pedestrians struck by cars on UES; one dead

A man was struck by a car and killed on the Upper East Side today, police said.

The 23-year-old was hit by a 1993 Blue Honda sedan in the center lane of the northbound FDR at about 1:10 a.m., suffering severe trauma to his body, cops said.

He died at Metropolitan Hospital, and his name has not been released yet pending family notification.

The driver stayed on the scene, and no criminality is suspected at this time

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, another pedestrian was struck at around 3 a.m. on 1st Avenue near 86th Street.

The 40-year-old man suffered head trauma and is being treated at Cornell Hospital.

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North Korea warns US commander in South Korea of 'miserable destruction' if US goes ahead with drills

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea warned the top American commander in South Korea on Saturday of "miserable destruction" if the U.S. military presses ahead with routine joint drills with South Korea set to begin next month.

Pak Rim Su, chief of North Korea's military delegation to the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, sent the warning Saturday morning to Gen. James Thurman, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said, in a rare direct message to the US commander.

The threat comes as the US and other nations discuss how to punish North Korea for conducting an underground nuclear test on Feb. 12 in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from nuclear and missile activity.

North Korea has characterized the nuclear test, its third since 2006, as a defensive act against US aggression. Pyongyang accuses Washington of "hostility" for leading the charge to punish North Korea for a December rocket launch that the US considers a covert missile test.

The US and North Korea fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, and left the Korean Peninsula divided by a heavily fortified border monitored by the US-led UN Command.

Washington also stations 28,500 American troops in South Korea to protect its ally against North Korean aggression.

South Korea and the US regularly conduct joint drills such as the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises slated to take place next month. North Korea calls the drills proof of US hostility, and accuses Washington of practicing for an invasion.

"You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction," KCNA quoted Pak as saying in his message to Thurman. He called the drills "reckless."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, meanwhile, has been making a round of visits to military units guiding troops in drills and exercises since the nuclear test, KCNA said.

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Princeton rolls over Columbia

Columbia killed its Ivy League ambitions with back-to-back losses at Brown and Yale last weekend, with the latter marking the first time the Lions had looked overmatched since conference play began. But it still couldn't prepare anyone at Levien Gymnasium for the putrid performance put forth Friday night, as Columbia got mauled by Princeton, 65-40.

Easily marking the team's lowest point total of the season, the Lions (10-13, 2-7) shot 34 percent from the field and 3-of-17 on 3-pointers, suffering their third straight loss and seventh in the past eight games. Short of anyone on Columbia's campus of coming up with a mind-blowing mathematical formula, it also ended the team's faintest hopes for its first championship since 1968.

"I just think we hung our heads and showed our youth a little bit," Columbia coach Kyle Smith said. "They outcompeted us. We didn't compete. You don't do the first part, nothing else matters. We got to do some soul-searching and quickly."

Returning home for the first time since beating first-place Harvard 12 days before, Columbia's top-scorer and assists-leader, Brian Barbour, was limited to nine minutes because of flu-like symptoms, after receiving five IVs on Thursday. The Lions looked lost on offense without the senior, only getting meaningful offensive contributions from guard Maodo Lo, who finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. No other teammate finished with more than six.

Smith said it looked like the team was out of sorts because of Barbour's quasi-presence, as if they were trying to comeback before the game even began.

"I just think a little bit of our heart and soul is not right as far as Brian," Smith said. "He wasn't the same. He means so much to us leadership-wise and his competitive spirit. There's always an adjustment if a guy's down like that. He's physically not himself. Starting there, you feel like you're starting in a hole."

The Lions actually started on top, with a Lo 3-pointer, but the Tigers (13-9, 6-2) ended any idea of an upset after ending the first half on a 15-3 run, leading 36-20 at the break. After beating the Lions by six in a meeting earlier this month, Princeton controlled the game through physicality, dominating the glass, while getting to the line with ease.

The Tigers were confident, the Lions confused, unsure how to handle the duo of Ian Hummer and Denton Koon, who combined for 40 points on 16-of-24 shooting.

"We had to make stops twice just to get a stop," Smith said. "Those wear on you. I thought at home we'd be better on the boards there. We're not 100 percent where we need to be. That's obvious."

Princeton turned the final 17 minutes into garbage time, leading by as much as 31 and never less than 19. They ended the night shooting 56.1 percent from the floor.

Princeton plays at Cornell tonight, and Harvard visits Yale. Should the Tigers win, it will give them an opportunity at home next Friday to take at least a share of first-place in the conference.

howard.kussoy@nypost.com

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WATCH: Michelle Obama shows off her 'Mom' dance moves

NBC

Michelle Obama showed off her dance moves on Friday's episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

Shake it, Michelle!

First Lady Michelle Obama showed off her best - and worst - dance moves on Friday's episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," appearing in a skit called "Evolution of Mom Dancing" alongside the dolled-up host.

Obama and Fallon performed a series of purposefully un-cool steps, including "raise the roof" and "just the hands part of single ladies" - fitting, given the Obamas' friendship with "Single Ladies" singer Beyonce.

Michelle busted out the sprinkler. Shook her hip twice to the same side. She even did the "Pulp Fiction," replicating Uma Thurman and John Travolta's retro dance style from a scene in the 1994 film.

But FLOTUS wasn't ready to concede her coolness, so she slipped into the "Dougie," causing Fallon to shrug and walk away, out-danced by the First Lady.

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Lin-ning situation: Jeremy thriving with Rockets

It was only a year ago Jeremy Lin was at the center of the American sports universe, going from a player on the verge of being cut for a third time in a single season to scoring 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the span of a few short weeks.

Now, just 12 months later, Lin is far away from the bright lights of New York and the heights of Linsanity, but still is playing well alongside James Harden in Houston's backcourt.

"I don't really spend much time reminiscing during the season, at least, but it's something that I'm thankful for and will always remember," said Lin, who scored nine points and added six assists in the Nets' 106-96 loss to the Rockets Friday night at Barclays Center. "I realize it's a little over a year ago, and that's just a little crazy to think about, to think about how much it's changed."

It was against the Nets — and, specifically, Deron Williams — that Linsanity began last February, when Lin came off the bench and scored 25 points in just under 36 minutes in a 99-92 Knicks' win at the Garden on Super Bowl Saturday.

But when Lin looked across the court at William, he still saw one of the league's elite point guards, despite the subpar season Williams has put together.

"He's a great, great, point guard," Lin said. "I know people are kind of on him and saying he's having an off-year, but, shoot, I'll take an off-year if it's whatever he's doing and how well he's playing.

"If that's his off-year, that just tells you how good he really is. Obviously his numbers may be down a little, but I think it's just a different role, different team, different style, but I think he's still a top, top point guard in the entire league."

As for Lin, he went through his own fair share of criticism this season when he started out slowly alongside Harden, who took off like a supernova after the Rockets acquired him in a trade with the Thunder just days before the start of the season.

But Harden and Lin have begun to look better together as the season has gone along, something both attributed to having more time to get used to one another. That was never more evident than it was Wednesday against the Thunder, when Harden scored 46 and Lin finished with 29 points, six rebounds and eight assists in a Rockets' win.

"I think with anybody you can't expect two players who like to make their teammates better and like to score the basketball mesh right away," Harden said. "It took us some time, and we're playing well. Last game, he played well and I played well, so it's just a matter of us playing more games, more practices and just communicating better."

When Lin left the Knicks, it looked like he was headed to a young Rockets team that was going to need time to develop to turn into a playoff contender, particularly in the loaded Western Conference, even after it acquired Harden. But Houston (31-26) has surprised everyone — including Lin himself — by spending the first half of the season occupying a playoff spot.

"I think we have exceeded expectations coming in, because no one really knew what to expected," said Lin, who entered the game averaging 12.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.9 steals. "We didn't even know what to expect.

"We're happy, but we're definitely not satisfied."

tbontemps@nypost.com

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