June 26, 2007
Oh Fenty, We Had Such High Hopes
You heard it here first: The bloom is officially off the rose of the Fenty administration. On Monday, the Mayor held an opening ceremony for the District's public swimming pools, at which he failed to fulfill our simple request that he make sure somebody did a cannonball. The Examiner was there yesterday afternoon to witness the pitiful display of showmanship where Fenty opened the city's pools, not with a dive, but with a whistle. While wearing a suit. Could Mayor Fenty have chosen a more staid, boring way celebrate the start of summer in the District? The answer is no. No he could not.
Mayor Anthony Williams, of course, was the man who started the cannonball tradition, turning the opening of the city's public swimming pools into a media spectacle and an annual tradition we all looked forward to every year for the last eight years. Not only was it always a great photo op, the cannonball signified the then-mayor's willingness to make himself look like a goofball in front of the entire press corps. It was silly, and Mayors aren't normally silly. That was a good thing.
Despite teasing us with talk of perhaps having his kids do the dive, or daring NBC4's Tom Sherwood to perform the cannonball, Mayor Fenty ultimately decided to discard the tradition entirely. You could say that the Mayor's decision keeps in fitting with his governing style -- out with the old, doing things his way, etc. Why should he keep up a quirky annual event that's so tied in to the identity of his predecessor? OK, fine. But why not start your own tradition, Mayor Fenty? Hosting a carnival at Langdon Park was the right direction, but why not eat a hot dog or an ice cream cone in front of everyone. Or try on some flippers and walk around in them. Have you considered performing a short water ballet? Something, anything to let us know you can let yourself look just the slightest bit ridiculous. We all appreciate the work you're trying to do to turn around the city's most troubled areas of government, but when we elected a 36-year-old mayor, we kinda thought we'd be getting someone who knew how to let his (proverbial) hair down. We're not saying you have go all Gavin Newsom on us (in fact, please don't). But come on, Mr. Mayor. It's summer! Let's go for a swim.
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as egregious as Fenty's lack of fun is your use of apostrophes; i.e., "Mayor's aren't normally silly." If I were an English teacher, I'd use the DCist as a punctuation/editing exercise. thanks for giving back to the community like that.
Oh for shit's sake. Everybody just loves to bitch about Fenty. Get over it. What's next, a blog entry complaining that he doesn't smoke crack and get "set up" by "the bitch"? Yeesh.
was he wearing the fedora too?
Hell, it's hot enough out today you'd think he would want to do it.
What I would like to see is a cannonball into the pool in a full suit - that would be awesome!
He was probably afraid his chiseled chest would put the ladies present into a swoon in which they would no longer be able to swim.
The cannonball in his suit would have been an instant You Tube classic.
Booo Fenty!
You just wanted to see his Charlie Browns.
That is sad...
Perhaps there is some truth to the rumor that he has an enormous penis tattooed across his chest.
oh my god you people will complain about anything.
-steve
Can we impeach him for not doing the canonball?
Give Fenty a break on this.
Williams came to town as a tight-assed, bow-tie wearing, bean counter; the annual cannonball was a great way for Williams to show that he wasn't some sort of humorless budget balancing automaton. Fenty, on the other hand, comes to office as one of the youngest big city mayors in the nation. Understandably, he might feel the need to cultivate an air of gravitas that precludes him from doing the cannonball to start the Summer swim season.
Why don't we save our Fenty bashing for when he actually fucks something up?
Also, didn't Bill Murray in "Caddyshack" call drinking alcohol right after taking a bong hit a cannonball?
Note sure if that adds anything, but was just wondering if people actually call it that.
Speaking of Gavin Newsom- as a former San Francisco resident/current DC resident, I was having a conversation with another former SF resident/current DC resident friend of mine. The topic was Adrian Fenty versus Gavin Newsom- who's hotter? My vote was for Fenty, his for Newsom (I'm female by the way). Any other opinions?
I know this is a terribly shallow topic- but this IS a post about doing cannonballs in public swimming pools, so I was hoping I'd get away with it.
Look Hillrat, there were people who voted for Fenty over Cropp because of the "who will do the next cannonball, and do I want to see it?" issue. Cannonball=serious business.
"Why don't we save our Fenty bashing for when he actually fucks something up?"
I'm pretty sure that horse wandered out of the barn a long time ago.
I've heard it's true. Fenty does in fact have a tattoo of a big dong on his chest, the result of a hazing incident at his fraternity back in school.
as a dc resident who voted for fenty in part b/c i could not imagine a linda cropp cannonball -- i am a little ticked off he let the city down in this dep't. the mayor's cannonball on the opening of dc pools has been an important tradition in our city's history. i am sad to see it broken, by fenty, no less.
also, i vote gavin newsom over adrian fenty.