this is what I understand too about Canon vs. Nikon, that the canon's shoot better at higher ISO's and canon has a program with newspapers, thus making canon the obvious choice for photojournalists and sports photographers.bladephotog:I had this problem even when the VR was turned off. It was killing me shooting sports. It was especially bad on low contrast subjects. I mean, low contrast subjects are tough for any lens but my 70-200 VR was atrocious at this. My Canon is much, much better. Two other photogs at my paper turned theirs back in for an 80-200 AF-S. But I've heard from other people who don't have this problem. Who knows?
None of the pros I know use VR lenses for their photos either. Most of the pro scenic photogs I know use a tripod for scenic shots anyway, where you'd have to shut of the VR as well if you had it...