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PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS From left, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton and Kobe Bryant are the summer’s biggest Hollywood story. Senkiw CONTINUED ROM PAGE 9 An overworked limp playing basketball again qualifies as a tragedy. Payton reupped with the Lakers, meaning he just wants a payday with little work required. The rest of the cast members real ly aren’t worth mentioning — just ask the Pistons. The soap opera only gets better in August when Kobe's sexual as sault trial gets going. With a team that started the summer failing miserably in the NBA Finals, it’s no shock that the future is in dis array. Now, as the two best players in the league figure out what uni form they’ll be wearing and the team searches for a new puppet, err, I mean head coach, the end ing should be too good for even Hollywood to make up. Briefly USC’s Odom agrees to 2-year extension USC head coach Dave Odom agreed to a two-year contract ex tension with the university July 2. The contract now runs through April 30,2008. Odom’s salary increases $10,000 a year, bumping it up from $150,000 to $160,000, and he’ll re ceive additional financial con siderations as it relates to his me dia package. All other terms of the contract remain in full force and effect. Odom is going into his fourth season at USC and was named SEC coach of the year in 2003 2004 after leading his team to a 23-11 record and its first NCAA Tournament bid since 1998. “I am both pleased and excit ed that an agreement on a new contract has been reached with the university,” Odom said. “I deeply appreciate the support of the administration and the sup port of the many Gamecock fans, who really have helped bring new energy to our pro gram. Women’s golf hires assistant coach USC women’s golf coach Kristi Coggins announced the hiring of assistant coach Marci Komegay today. Komegay comes to USC from Winthrop University, where she served as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s golf programs since January 2002. Kornegay leuerea at ine University of Mississippi from 1997-2001. She earned Rebel Ringer hon ors for having the lowest cumu lative score on the team in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In addition, Komegay earned the team lead ership award in 2000 and 2001 and was named team captain her senior year. Kornegay also worked as an assistant at LSU from 2001-02 af ter graduation. Darlington Raceway fighting to keep lone Nextel Cup race BY PETE lACOBgLLI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS New Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning won’t pair.t any doomsday scenarios for the region or state about life without NASCAR racing. “I’m probably, regrettably, in the best position of anyone to speak firsthand of what the con sequences can be,” Browning, the former head of recently sold North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham, said by phone from his new office Tuesday. Despite Browning’s efforts the past 12 years, NASCAR took one, then the other, of The Rock’s two longtime race dates to satisfy larger tracks in less saturated markets. So he’s understandably wary of some seeing him as the “Grim Reaper” of fading soutnem racetracKs. “That’s why I think I need to be proactive in speaking to leg islators and officials and politi cians,” Browning said. “So many businesses in North Carolina just took (The Rock) for granted. They thought noth • ing was going to happen. Well, it happened and it happened pretty quick.” To prevent the same demise at Darlington — its Nextel Cup pro file was slashed from two races to one for 2005 — Browning will convene with anyone who’ll lis ten about the historic tracks. One meeting will definitely in volve Gov. Mark Sanford. Browning said North Carolina officials didn’t seem serious about helping Rockingham until it was too late. Darlington and Browning, who took over for Andrew Gurtis last month, will find an interest ed supporter in Sanford, said the governor’s spokesman Will Folks. NASCAR’s announcement in May that Darlington would only have one race next year “cer tainly hit the governor’s radar screen,” Folks said. “He’s very knowledgeable of what that means and keenly aware of the economic development ramifi cations.” Darlington Raceway sits in the heart of the Pee Dee region, one of the state’s most economically depressed. University of South Carolina studies have shown NASCAR race weekends can pump up to $25 million into the area. Darlington’s case also has a grass-roots push. A recently an nounced fan group, Fanz to Support the Darlington Raceway Tradition, is attempting to sign up as many members as possible (the $5 fee going to charity) to show NASCAR’s leaders racing interest remains vital and strong in South Carolina. “They tell us we can go see races in Charlotte and Atlanta,” said Bob Henry, the group’s pres ident. “I don’t want to go to Charlotte and Atlanta. I want to stay right here.” Henry recently signed up country music artist Keith Bryant as the organization’s spokesman. Bryant’s song “Tradition Sure Runs Deep” off his latest album starts out, “We’ve got a family tradition here, it’s been around for 50 years.” Bryant says the song is about NASCAR racing, but easily translates to its oldest super speedway in Darlington, where NASCAR first raced in 1950. “I’m proud if we can help keep racing at Darlington,” Bryant said by phone. Browning says he’ll have to convince fans, trade associa tions and businesses to pur chase Darlington tickets earli er than ever so he might have power with leaders at NASCAR and track owner International Speedway Corp. to pursue things like adding seats, im proving the garage area and up dating or rebuilding luxury suites. Henry says sales are what cor porations understand best. “They won’t ignore us if we can do that,” he said. Whether Browning — or any one —can grow Darlington is the big question. The facility lost a race despite its first Southern 500 sellout last Labor Day and capi tal improvements like SAFER barriers and a soon-to-debut lighting system. And next year, Darlington’s lone event comes on Mother’s Day weekend, long the circuit’s sacrosanct downtime. But Browning says he took the job with confidence that NASCAR leaders were commit ted to Darlington’s future. “Am I concerned?” Browning says. “Yes, I’m concerned, but I’m excited too about what we can do here.” Today’s athletes and teams giving you a headache? Write a column for Gamecock Sports and , voice your opinion. Contact us at gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu