[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'May 20 2005, 06:27 AM\']I remember Gene telling the players during part of the 1981-82 season not to spin the wheel so hard, as there were probably some malfunctions with it.[/quote]
Actually, if you watch the wheel spin during that portion of the run, it looks like they used 28 gallons of grease a day on it. That darn thing would've spun forever if someone had given it a hearty twist.
Come to think of it, it's possible that they did it that way because of the tendencies noticed by the OP.