If you’ve spent much time in Phoenix, you have an idea of what a precipitous plunge Wayne Gretzky’s career has taken recently. His record as Coyotes coach is well under .500 and maybe worse yet, his team is one of the least interesting in a league that almost no one’s interested in.

But the news this week that Gretzky had agreed to be host of a Nationwide Tour event in Canada makes the fall now impossible to ignore. What, there wasn’t a ping pong club championship that 99 could put his name on?

This would be like Peyton Manning hosting the NBDL All-Star game.

It’s even more stunning considering that just days before Gretzky kicked away the last of his aura for third-rate golf, Justin Timberlake had Las Vegas’ PGA Tournament renamed for him - as he became one of the big Tour’s few celebrity hosts in its history.

Timberlake gets the big show. Gretzky is left with the Nationwide.

Anyone who watched Gretzky skate circles around everyone and work his magic behind the net for those entertainingly dominant Edmonton Oiler teams can only cringe at this development.

Gretzky with the Nationwide? Say it ain’t so Wayne. You couldn’t have even held out for the Seniors Tour and its cast of Beer Truck drivers.

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