Damn, I remember everyone sportin' neon one-pieces inc'l boarders back in the late 80's, early 90's... I never skied at a hill that didn't allow boarders yet they never failed to hate skiers. If boarder-centric companies want to put some capital up to put some skiers on thier teams, well, they're doing the smart thing business wise. But I think in a boarders mind it just means the companies they've supported for being 'thiers' are selling out to the people they've been trying to distance themselves from for the last decade or so. I think if anything this kind of stuff is ushering in a new attitude between skiers and boarders, but it's just the beginning. Keep the skiers competing in the X-Games and we can bet that opinions in the mainstream will change too, and all of a sudden skiing will be accepted for what it is rather than what it was. I feel sorry for all of you who've had bad experiences with random skiers on the hill, but you should know that those guys are only a small percentage of skiers today, and growing smaller every season. Just look at Anon sponsoring Eric as a good sign for the future, I don't see him switching to snowboards ever.
'...Smoking's bad, smoking killed my dad. Yeah, he was driving down the highway one day and as he was lighting his cigarette, it blew out the window. So he jumps out the door to save it, and ran himself over. Uh, you mind if I smoke?' -Olie Ollaussen, Ski Bum extraordinaire