Dave Shoji was five points away from his 1,000th win and some people were leaving the Stan Sheriff Center. Even Jim Leahey had to wonder out loud, "Where are they going?!"

For some people, getting out before everyone else is more important than staying to see a momentous event. Everyone loves Dave Shoji, but some not enough to spend five extra minutes idling in the parking garage, waiting for the line to move.

Of course, it has nothing to do with Dave Shoji. Some people are just compelled to scamper out before anyone else regardless of the event they came to see, the money they paid for the ticket or how much they love the team. It's not unique to the Sheriff center. It's not unique to University of Hawaii sports. It's not even unique to Hawaii, though in big Mainland cities, the parking lot post-game gridlock is among 30,000 people, not 3,000.

It doesn't matter if their team is way ahead, way behind or in a nail-biting tie. It's, "Ah, they going win. Let's go." Or "Ah, they going lose. Let's go." Or "Ah, we go listen to the rest on the radio in the car. Let's go."

Compulsive early-leavers slip out the side door of just about any event. At the old Varsity Theater, where the single aisle made departures more obvious, you could hear them jingling their keys all during the last scene of the movie. As soon as the credits began to scroll, they were vaulting over drink cups and shouldering through the exit door as though the place was on fire.

At concerts, they never stay for the hana hou.

They're in church, sliding out the side door in the middle of the benediction, peeling out of the parking lot before the final "amen." At a Catholic Mass, the early leavers stay as long as communion, get their bread and then just keep walking to the parking lot. They are glad to spend an hour in church but won't spend a minute in the parking lot.

It's sad to think of all these folks are missing out on, but to them, it's not whether you win or lose, it's how fast you make it onto H-1 before everybody else.

Of course, if you stay until the bitter end of any sporting event, until the consolation trophies are given out and the players have autographed everything they're asked to autograph, getting out of the parking lot is no trouble at all. But by then all the tables at Big City Diner are taken and somebody else is enjoying your kim chee fried rice. So go Daddy go!