but then we will become snowboarding or skateboarding...in a bad way
right now the way our segment of the sport is, most people who are into our sport are decently talented.  if it goes really mainstream we are going to have an influx of kids getting their parents to buy them twintips, getting them mounted wrong, and shitting around the parks not hitting anything, just sitting in the park because its cool, or god forbid they decide to hit a feature and they will get hurt.
think about how many people you see that wear snowboard and skateboard gear that either a) dont participate in the sport the are supporting, or b) are terrible at the sport.  Do we want our sport associated with people like this?   I dont
guys like simon and uncle e and sal masacela are promoting amplitude as the face of our sport, but thats gay, thats as gay as freestyle motocross.  we should be focusing on INDIVIDUAL and ORIGINAL style, such as that of Mik D.  how original is it to drop into a pipe and say "hey, i think im gonna do the same run as last year but ill just add an extra 180 to my bottom hit or go 2 feet higher out"...its not
and as far as it bringing in more money for research and developement of better products and stuff...do we really need that?  BIG NEWS FLASH: good skis dont make good skiers.  the skis that are coming out now are progressing and getting better without money from our sport being mainstream.
why do we care what the average american wants to see?  isnt that selling out?  shouldnt we only care about what we want to see?  FREESKIING, PLEASE DONT SELL OUT!  sadly, that sounds like just the thing someone like simon wants...but guys, our sport is fine on its own and doesnt need to sell out.
Sparknotes: our sport is not mainstream, thats good, it keeps gapers away, we have good products, we dont need to put "spin to win" as the face of our sport to stay afloat.  style and originality FTW