There is, however, an "M-E."

Sometimes in sports, it's worth celebrating the great individual performance. Today's column does that. I've compiled a list of the 10 best individual efforts I've seen in the past 20-odd years, since I started writing about sports at my college newspaper.

My list is purely subjective, of course. Yours would undoubtedly be far different. And you can join the conversation by posting your own list on www.charlotte.com/sports under the online version of this story.

One major ground rule to follow: You had to see these great performances IN PERSON, not on TV.

And now, counting them down:

10. MARIO CHALMERS. I still don't quite believe Kansas guard Mario Chalmers made the shot that pushed the NCAA basketball championship game into overtime this past April. With Memphis guard Derrick Rose looming in his face, Chalmers nailed a gorgeous 3-pointer from the top of the key that will be replayed for decades. You knew Memphis was done as soon as it swished.

9. CHRIS LEAK. The Charlotte Independence quarterback had a surgeon's touch in high school, when he set innumerable records. The game that sticks in my brain was a five-touchdown effort against Charlotte Vance in 2002 when Leak broke the national record for career TD passes.

8. KOBE BRYANT. In the best Charlotte Bobcats game I've ever seen -- now there's a short list! -- Bryant was incredible. He scored 58 against the Bobcats on Dec. 29, 2006, yet Charlotte still managed to win in triple overtime.

7. MARAT SAFIN. I know what you're saying: Marat who? Safin is a temperamental tennis genius who hardly ever realized his potential. I saw him do it once, though, in New York -- a startling 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 pummeling of Pete Sampras in the 2000 U.S. Open final.

6. NICK MADDOX. This running back from Kannapolis A.L. Brown was absolutely the most dazzling high school football player I've ever seen. In the 1998 game I remember most, Maddox scored five TDs and threw a 71-yard pass for a sixth in a 55-14 rout of Central Cabarrus.

5. LEN BIAS. In 1986, I was still in college and a very raw sports writer. Still, it was impossible to miss the greatness on display when Bias scored 35 points and almost single-handedly led Maryland's basketball win over No. 1 UNC, 77-72. Once, Bias hit a 20-footer, then stole the inbounds pass and dunked it. Backward.

"If Lenny Bias ain't the player of the world after tonight," said Maryland coach Lefty Driesell, "somebody don't know something about basketball."

Four months later, Bias died of cardiac arrest attributed to a cocaine overdose.

4. JILEN SIROKY. Few outside the Charlotte swim community knew this 14-year-old when she swam the race of her life at the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis. She was ranked 54th in the world in the 200-meter breaststroke entering the event.

In the eight-woman final, Siroky (pronounced Sir-OAK-ee) was sixth after 50 meters. The Charlotte middle-schooler needed to finish second to make the Olympics. And she just kept passing people, ultimately swimming 3.5 seconds faster in the event than she had before.

In the final 10 meters, Siroky went from third to second, from off the Olympic team to on it. She sobbed as soon as she saw her time. It was beautiful.

In the Olympics themselves, Siroky finished 15th. But, hey, she got there.

3. PAYNE STEWART. The 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst was a classic -- the best single day of golf I've ever covered.

Stewart won on a misty Sunday, beating Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and, finally, Phil Mickelson with a wonderful display of nerveless golf.

On the final three holes, Stewart one-putted -- from 25, 5 and then 15 feet on No. 18. If he had missed that last putt on the final hole, he and Mickelson would have been tied for the lead. Instead, Stewart won it outright.

Four months later, Stewart died aboard a doomed private jet that veered halfway across the country before crashing in South Dakota.

2. STEPHEN CURRY. With Davidson's literal son of a gun, you've got a lot of performances to choose from even if you just limit it to the past six months.

My favorite, though, was Curry's second half in a 2008 second-round NCAA Tournament game against Georgetown in Raleigh on Easter Sunday. Curry looked frustrated and had only five points at halftime. Soon thereafter, Davidson was down by 17.

And then Curry went nuts. He scored 25 points in that second half, including one four-point play. He ended up with 30, and Davidson won 74-70. It was ridiculously good, and it was the game that imprinted the baby-faced Curry on America's psyche.

1. STEVE SMITH. No Carolina Panther has ever played better for 60 minutes than Smith did in the NFC playoffs against the Chicago Bears in January 2006. The Bears had beaten the Panthers 13-3 earlier in the season. Now Chicago, boasting what was supposed to be the NFL's best defense, would get the Panthers again at Soldier Field.

And Smith absolutely torched them. Every time the Panthers needed a play, he would run past or fight through some hapless Bear.

Smith ended up with 218 yards and two touchdowns in the Panthers' 29-21 win. As Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher growled afterward when asked what happened to the Bears: "Steve Smith. That is what happened to us."

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