The Seattle Seahawks are running out of warm bodies for Friday night’s preseason matchup with the Oakland Raiders. QB Charlie Frye hurt his knee in Monday’s 18-17 loss to the Chargers; the injury isn’t considered serious, but it still throws Seattle’s QB situation into chaos for the Raiders matchup.

Seattle is 2-1 SU and 3-0 ATS this preseason, riding Frye’s arm through most of it while protecting Matt Hasselbeck (back) and Seneca Wallace (groin). Rookie Dalton Bell out of West Texas A&M could end up getting his first taste of NFL action on Friday.

The Raiders (1-2 SU, 1-1 ATS) are 3-point road dogs in this matchup. They’ve had some injury problems of their own this summer, and coach Lane Kiffin is responding by keeping his starters on the bench for the entire game. We’ll be treated instead to an interesting battle for the No. 3 wide receiver spot now that Drew Carter (knee) is out of the season.

Philadelphia Eagles’ RB Brian Westbrook

Running back is second only to quarterback in the hierarchy of football importance – and popularity. But a running back is highly dependent on his teammates; without a competent system surrounding him, the RB can’t put up the big numbers people equate with success: rushing yards gained.

In other words, those numbers are a bad way to evaluate talent. So let’s use the Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR) numbers at Football Outsiders to determine who the Top 10 tailbacks were in 2007. We’ll also factor in receiving, another important part of the job position that the public overlooks:

1. Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia    523 DYAR
2. LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego    400
3. Joseph Addai, Indianapolis        372
4. Adrian Peterson, Minnesota        325
5. Ronnie Brown, Miami            316
6. Frank Gore, San Francisco        240
7. Marion Barber, Dallas        237
8. Jamal Lewis, Cleveland        224
9. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville    223
10. Kevin Faulk, New England        209

It’s difficult to get very excited about what happens on the field during the NFL preseason. Naturally, Brett Favre is the exception. When he suits up for the New York Jets on Saturday to start against the Washington Redskins, it will be one of the biggest moments ever in August football.

If only they could have mustered that kind of excitement for preseason football north of the border. Five thousand Canadians showed up at the Rogers Center dressed up as empty seats for Thursday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills matchup. Overpriced tickets kept away many fans who might otherwise attend one of the upcoming regular-season games in Toronto.

Failing to sell out may have been a mild embarrassment for the league, but at least the game included the highlight of the preseason thus far: a 95-yard kick return for a touchdown by Bills first-round pick Leodis McKelvin. That’s the kind of play the Canadian fan base can appreciate.

The 2008 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is shaping up to be one of the best in years. There are currently 115 horses that bookmakers have odds on winning Paris’ most prestigious race. It’s still a bit early to call, but the favorites Zarkava and Montmartre are currently at 7/2. Either one would be a good pick.

Curlin may make an appearance at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, if his owners don’t decide to put him in the Breeders’ Cup Classic against Big Brown. Curlin is getting 16/1 to win, but I’d rather wait until we see the results of the prep race he runs after arriving in Europe later this summer.

New Approach is a good pick at 7/1, and some books have him at 6/1. Also Soldier of Fortune and Duke of Marmalade could pull off the win. Both are at 9/2 at this point in the betting.

History suggests the United States should clean up in the boxing ring at the Summer Olympics. Team USA has 48 gold medals to Cuba’s 32, far more than any other country in the modern era. But it might as well be the ancient Olympics. The U.S. is a distant third on the Beijing odds list at 5-1, behind Russia (10-11) and Cuba (7-4).

The twilight of American boxing was the 1988 Games in Seoul, where Team USA won three gold medals (it should have been four – Roy Jones Jr. was shafted). They’ve won a total of three since then. Cuba has 20. However, their boxing team has been decimated by a series of defections. None of the five winners from Athens will be at Beijing this year.

That leaves the powerful Russian team. They won three gold medals at Athens and picked up another three at last year’s World Boxing Championships. No Ivan Drago jokes, please.