CFL returns star picks after earlier error

The CFL sent out a list of stars Wednesday morning.

Then they were forced to send out a completely different list on Wednesday afternoon.

In a mistake that is sure to live long in fan memory and make embarrassing headlines nationally - and perhaps even beyond our Canadian borders - the league miscalculated the vote for its division stars.

A total of 21 players were named to the West or East Division squads on Wednesday morning and their names were later withdrawn later in the day.

"Earlier today, the CFL issued a press release announcing this year's East and West Division stars, which were chosen by coaches, media and fans," the league said in a statement. "Further review revealed that an error had been made in the tabulation and weighting of votes, which resulted in errors in the release.

"The CFL sincerely apologizes to everyone involved, especially those players who were incorrectly announced as All-Stars or who were incorrectly excluded from the roster. We have also issued an apology to the CFL Players Association. Canadian Football League Responsibility for this error rests solely with the CFL, not those who voted or the CFLPA.

"We also want to apologize to our fans for this unacceptable mistake. A correct list will be released shortly.

The initial list of players who were named to all-star teams met with almost immediate backlash from fans, media and players. There were obvious omissions and the Toronto Argonauts had 16 players named to the team, which would be unusual even for a historically dominant group, which the Argos were not.

The corrected star list was much more aligned with ballots that many members of the media had personally released, with the Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats leading their divisions with 11 stars apiece.

[email protected] www.twitter.com/DannyAustin_9