I was in Vons the other day shopping for wine and cat food when my ambling gait toward a checkout stand suddenly became a quest for gold. It was like this: I was about equal distance from the checkout with a very old woman who was approaching from the opposite direction. We spotted each other just about the same time. She began to hurry. She wanted to be first. This stirred my competitive instincts and I picked up speed. She also picked up speed, even though she was quite obviously too old to run. I rolled faster. She shuffled faster. We were about to collide at the checkout stand, where I fully intended to body block her out of the running, when I asked myself just what in the hell was I doing? I was racing a woman 20 years my senior, who was shriveled and skinny, to be first to pay for my cat food. Being first wasn't important. There is no gold medal for winning at the checkout stand. One did not stand teary-eyed on the counter while the National Anthem played. There were no future commercial endorsements for beer or breakfast cereals and no one to idolize America's Checkout Hero. So I slowed down and allowed the old lady to win. To be first, to win, is a big city syndrome, says Encino psychologist Dr. Michael Aharoni. 'You don't find that in small towns where they help old ladies cross the street. In L.A., they'd bump them out of the way to be first at the curb,' he said. Michael is an old friend I used to call Michael Macaroni. But that was before he won his Ph.D. I mentioned my dash to the checkout counter at Vons only because on the same day I encountered a crazy man in a car who veered through two lanes of traffic, barely missing other cars, to be first in a lane stopped for a red light. He had almost clipped my right front fender and I shouted this at him as we waited for the light. He gave me the finger and looked away. 'He wanted to be first for the same reason you wanted to be first,' Aharoni said. 'It makes you feel bigger and stronger. It's like, 'I don't want to miss anything. If I'm first I win the big prize.' ' The need to win emerges from the culture of sports and business, he added, and in some cases it's OK to be first. 'There's nothing really wrong in winning as long as we don't leave a trail of damage. 'Some just don't care what they do to win. Look at (Bernard) Madoff. Look what he did. Look at Bell.' Madoff won for awhile with his Ponzi scheme, but ended up in prison. The civic leaders of Bell won for awhile, but may end up as Bernie's neighbors. Winning at any cost has its price. The next time I shopped at Vons the same old lady was there. She recognized me and turned on her afterburners. I slowed down and let her take the gold. I was satisfied with silver. 