One of the more amusing aspects of Mayor Anthony Williams eight year tenure as mayor was his annual ceremonial cannonball to open D.C. pools every summer. According to City Desk, a CityPaper blog, freshman mayor Adrian Fenty doesn’t plan on keeping the tradition ^[1].

The official opening is scheduled for June 25. And he isn’t ruling out a cannonball for the kick off–so long as the diver is a member of the media. “I was going to [dive],” Fenty told the radio audience of WAMU-FM’s The D.C. Politics Hour With Kojo and Jonetta on May 25. “but [WRC-TV reporter] Tom Sherwood actually says he’s going to do it.”

While I have no doubt that many area politicians would be quite happy to “help” Sherwood into the pool, it isn’t the same. Sherwood isn’t sure he is going to do it either:

Not so fast, Sherwood shoots back. “I would do it, but someone would have to offer up some cash,” he says. “For $5,000, I’ll do it.”

Sherwood isn’t contemplating a lucrative new career in professional athletics. But he does want his dive to produce something more than a good laugh. “I will ask the person to donate the money to a charity of my choosing,” he says. “Everything has a price.”

C’mon on Mr. Mayor, take the plunge!