During an on-air conversation yesterday about the arrests of suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones, Imus asked, "What color is he?"

Told by sports announcer Warner Wolf that Jones, who used to be nicknamed Pacman, is "African-American," Imus responded: "There you go. Now we know."

The exchange came 6 months after Imus' return to work on a new show on WABC-AM following his firing from MSNBC and CBS Radio for making a racially and sexually charged comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Civil-rights leader Al Sharpton, one of the chief critics who successfully pushed for Imus' firing last April, criticized Imus' comments yesterday.

"I find the inference of his remark disturbing because it plays into stereotypes," Sharpton said in a statement. "We will determine in the next day or so whether or not his remark warrants direct action on our part."

WABC and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. vice president Phil Boyce said Imus would explain his comments on his show this morning and it was unlikely the broadcasters would take disciplinary action against him.

Boyce said Imus had explained his words in a private conversation yesterday afternoon and the explanation was satisfactory.

Noteworthy

* Michael Strahan is taking his gap-toothed grin to Fox. The charismatic former New York Giants defensive end, who retired earlier this month, will join the network's NFL pregame show, a person with knowledge of the hiring confirmed to the Associated Press.

In other Giants news, backup quarterback Jared Lorenzen was waived.

* Carolina Panthers receiver Dwayne Jarrett pleaded guilty to driving while impaired, minutes before he was scheduled to go on trial. He surrendered his driver's license and was ordered to pay $420 in court costs and perform 24 hours of community service.

* Two Green Bay men face charges of burglarizing the home of Packers running back Noah Herron, who hit one of them over the head with a bedpost when the man came into his bedroom.

Yeshua Tate, 31, was charged Friday with two counts of being party to burglary. The same charges were filed in Brown County Circuit Court against Joel Mullin-Romo, 20. *