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[Note: This material is copyright by the Des Moines Register, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Des Moines Register.]

Is it Long's fault that the Stars are a mediocre hockey team? Is it his fault that no one wants to pay $25 to see those guys lose? Or pay $6 for a dinky beer? Is it Long's fault that an obvious hotel addition was never considered until after the fact?

Good luck to interim manager Holly Kjeldgaard, but if I were her, I'd keep my resume updated.

-Mike Burgher,
Urbandale.

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All is not well at the Well

Whaddya mean, Des Moines isn't a "must play" city ("New Arena Struggles to Achieve Success," Dec. 2)? The first words out of the mouth of the first Global Spectrum official spoken at the first Wells Fargo Arena press conference were, "If you build it, they will come." "You" in this case would be taxpayers. "They," the world-class acts. OK, we built it. Where are they?

-Stan Beyerman,
Des Moines.

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Great column from Marc Hansen on the travails of Wells Fargo Arena ("Events Center's Start Leaves Something to Be Desired," Dec. 3). Here's the Well in a nutshell:

• We're Iowans. Iowans are not a rich people. To many of us, $12 for a ticket to anything, except to watch our children play sports, makes us stop and think about it.

• If we get a $100 million building, the expectations here are about the same as the expectations would be for a $1 billion building in New York. The supervisors, in order to sell this building to the public, have hyped it up as the Taj Mahal of entertainment.

• For a $60 ticket, Iowans expect some kowtowing. If I'm forking over $60 ($240 for the family) to go to the Taj Mahal, I almost expect to be carried to my seat by my own team of Hooters girls. I do not expect to stand in line for anything for very long, especially to get into the building.

• Wild guess: Des Moines is about 923rd in line for a huge management company's attention. Now that they've sacked the manager and will presumably install a new person, I guess we know where the buck stops.

If your customers have bad experiences 5,000 at a time, it doesn't take long to run out of customers in this town. It's possible the management company is closing the barn door after the cow's gotten out.

-Bill Zahren,
West Des Moines.

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Your Dec. 2 story about the Wells Fargo Arena fell abysmally short of the obvious. It's going to take more than new management to make that boondoggle profitable.

I visited the arena for the Mannheim Steamroller concert. Getting to my seat rivaled a medical stress test (somewhat akin to rock-wall climbing).

Once seated, or rather shoehorned, into a seat too narrow for a super-model's fanny, I tried reading the program before the show, but alas, there were no house lights.

Our after-the-show exit took 20 minutes to get out of the building (a fire marshal's worst nightmare), and another hour to get out of the parking lot.

The three-hour drive home in a snowstorm was a welcome relief.

-Myron Amdahl,
Eagle Grove.