Hindsight a precious commodity in sports

What do you wish you knew when you were younger?

The simplest questions bring the most interesting answers.

Dave Wannstedt, former Dolphins coach: “The importance of depth in … no, no, it’d be quarterback. Definitely quarterback. I don’t think I understood the importance of quarterback. I knew the importance of defense, running the ball and special teams. I think the one thing I wish I’d known is you need a great quarterback — you need two quarterbacks, really. I was hard-headed that way everywhere I went. The Dolphins. The Bears. Pitt. You can only win so much running the ball and playing defense and special teams. I thought you could coach around the quarterback. You can’t. That’s the one thing I wish I’d realized more right from the start.”

Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys owner: “How to view risk versus reward. If you’re on a par-5, do you hit the second shot over water to go for the green or not? That’s something you can only learn with experience. I’ve learned there’s nothing wrong with laying up and not going over the water all the time. At the same time, to achieve anything great there has to be some risk involved. How do you balance the two? That’s an answer I wish I knew at a younger age.”

Udonis Haslem, Heat forward. “Everything. And I mean everything. I used to just run and jump and bring a lot of effort. That’s what you do when you’re young. But with some experience you learn things. How to take care of body. How to practice. How to play a game with my head more than physically. My workouts now are very calculated where when I was young I was just working hard. If I could go back, I’d take a notebook full of stuff that I know now and help that kid who was just running and jumping around.”

JoAnne Carner, Hall of Fame golfer: “I’d learn to say, ‘No’ earlier than I did.