[SDL] game controller axes misbehaving at application startup

[Artem Baguinski]

hi

i'm trying to add game controller support to my sdl based game and  
I'm more or less done except for the following:

each time the program starts up and i push the stick, say, left (axis  
0 reads -32767) and then release it, the axis 0 reads 32767 - as if i  
pushed it right all the way. only after I also pushed the stick right  
does it seem to figure out where the center is and settle to some  
number close to zero.

the same is true for the vertical axis and other order (first push  
right).

i'm using SDL 1.2.11 form darwin ports on mac os. my game controller  
is speedlink's Hornet Force Pad Touch Edition (SL-6526)

http://www.nobilis-informatika.hr/php/proizvod.php?kat_id=83&pro_id=1843

(can't find it at speedlink website)

is this normal behaviour? can i work around it?