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XLIX

That's 49, the hottest number in Roman numerals and Pasco County.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published November 28, 2006

Wesley Chapel's Sthefany Thomas is known for her scoring, but Friday she outdid herself. Not only did she lead her team to an overtime victory over Class 3A state runnerup St. Petersburg Catholic, she scored a whopping 49 points in the victory. Forty-nine!!! We're not sure that's a county record, but it's the most we could find since Ridgewood's Crystal Ayers dropped 43 on Tarpon Springs Jan. 23, 2004. And it got us to thinking about other famous 49s:

Knockout number

We wonder if it will take as many years for another girl to score 49 points in a game as it has taken for someone to break Rocky Marciano's record of 49 straight wins in boxing. Rocky's record is going strong at 51 years.

Music to our ears

Did you know there are 49 strings on a harp? Or that there are 49 keys on a celesta? Don't know what a celesta is? Well, it makes a sound like that of a glockenspiel, if that helps.

Valuable either way

Thomas' game against St. Petersburg Catholic makes her an honorary 49er in our book. Those old guys participated in the 1849 California Gold Rush, but Thomas is golden on the fast break, so same difference.

All about chemistry

49 is the atomic number for indium, which was used during World War II as a coating for bearings in high performance aircraft. If you wanted to buy some today, it'll run you about $200 bucks a kilogram.

Ready for her closeup

NBC's Today Show studio is located on 49th street in New York, and another 50 or so points might just get Thomas a trip there to sit down with the hunky Matt Lauer (though not as hunky as Melankomas of Karia, we are told.)

Siddhartha Gautama

Who would become Buddha, spent 49 days meditating as a holy man. Then he came up with the "Four Noble Truths", the first of which stated "all human life is suffering."

Cue the karaoke

Sometimes, when we're sitting around deciding what to put in the paper, we all sing Days of 49 by Bob Dylan to fire us up. Come on, sing along with us: "I'm old Tom Moore from the bummers shore in that good old golden days.."

So hot she's cool

Thomas was red hot Friday. The opposite of hot? Alaska, of course, which ironically is our 49th state.

Roman remedy

Sthefany Thomas' jump shot is like a magic elixir to Wesley Chapel's offense. Which is ironic considering the roman numeral for 49 is XLIX. Get it? XLIXir? Magic XLIXir? Come on, work with us here.

Calling Germany?

Well, make sure you dial 49, which happens to be the code for international direct dial phone calls to that country.

Melankomas

In the year 49, this dude was the boxing champ at the 207th Olympiad. Melankomas of Karia, as he was known, was masterful at defense and highly regarded for his handsome body and good looks. From what we hear, anyway.

Bad religion

Remember Tammy Faye Bakker? Well, her husband Jim got put away at the age of 49 for fraud and tax evasion ... and some other things we cannot print here in this family newspaper.

Compiled by Wikipedia and John C. Cotey, who ironically is 49. Okay, so not really. But he's getting there.

[Last modified November 28, 2006, 07:04:11]