Your average Joe who may or may not have spent several thousand dollars for his family to ski at Breckenridge is not familiar with any of these athlete's names. A month ago, Jossi Wells, David Wise, Gus Kenworthy, Henrik Harlaut, Torin Yater Wallace, etc. would not ring any bells. What he does recognize is the American flag. He is going to root for Team USA. Obviously. And there is nothing wrong with that. Now I don't know exactly what the demographics of Newschoolers are, but I'm going to go ahead and assume that a very slight majority of the users are Americans (this doesn't really have an effect on my point if I'm wrong). However, instead of national support, it seems like NSers want their favorite athletes to succeed (this goes for any country). As an American myself, I am ecstatic that Team USA swept the very first slopestyle event. However, as a NSer, I feel like Henrik Harlaut deserved better than sixth place. The same goes for halfpipe. Way to represent David Wise. I'm glad you're taking home gold. However, I chose to post Jossi Wells video to my Facebook wall, because that's what I want to show my freeski-oblivious friends. I believe Wells' run was more aesthetically pleasing than Wise's, so I wish he won (or at least medaled).
TL;DR The average Olympic viewer wants what is best for their country, whereas the average NSer wants what is best for the ski community.
