Comedian, writer and lifelong Atlanta Falcons fan Sarah Tiana enters the Hometown Blues Institute for an examination nearly 60 years in the making.

Sarah joins A.M. Pfeffer for a wide-ranging conversation about growing up in small-town Georgia, finding her way from acting to stand-up comedy, performing as Taz at Six Flags, DJing weddings and bar mitzvahs, discovering Mitch Hedberg, performing for American troops overseas, and how a lifelong obsession with sports eventually became part of her career.

She also explains why sports became a refuge from the entertainment business: in sports, unlike Hollywood, somebody actually wins or loses based on what happens on the field.

Then it's time to deal with what Atlanta has done to her.

Sarah traces her Falcons fandom back to the Dirty Birds era and explains why, despite nearly six decades of evidence, she remains fiercely loyal to a franchise that has found almost every conceivable way to create hope, destroy it, rebuild it and sell it back to its fans.

A.M. and Sarah dig into the current Falcons, including Michael Penix Jr., Tua Tagovailoa, Cooper Rush, Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Jeff Ulbrich's defense, the Terrell brothers and whether Atlanta actually has enough talent to compete if it can simply get functional quarterback play.

Sarah also makes her feelings very clear about the upcoming schedule — including the possibility that what Falcons fans should really be rooting for is a top-five draft pick.

Then the Hometown Blues Institute opens.

Assessment #1: The Atlanta Falcons Hope Return Policy

A.M. gives Sarah the opportunity to request a refund on decades of Falcons hope: Deion Sanders, the 1998 Dirty Birds, Michael Vick, Matt Ryan and Julio Jones, Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr.

Her response?

She refuses to return any of it.

Assessment #2: Normal NFL Event or Atlanta Falcons Event?

From blowing a fourth-quarter playoff lead in 1980 to Deion leaving Atlanta and immediately winning a Super Bowl, Eugene Robinson's infamous night before Super Bowl XXXIII, Bobby Petrino disappearing during the 2007 season and the Falcons giving Kirk Cousins a massive contract only to draft Penix weeks later, Sarah must decide:

Is this normal NFL chaos — or could this only happen to the Atlanta Falcons?

The test culminates with one final scenario involving Falcons President of Football Matt Ryan returning to the field at age 41 to solve Atlanta's quarterback emergency.

The problem?

Sarah thinks that's a pretty good idea.

Assessment #3: The Atlanta Falcons Burden of Proof

How much evidence would Atlanta have to provide before Sarah actually believes the Falcons are good?

Beat Carolina? Win three straight? Reach 7–4 by Thanksgiving? Win the NFC South? Win a playoff game? Reach the NFC Championship Game with a 17-point fourth-quarter lead?

The answers reveal a Falcons fan whose relationship with hope may no longer follow conventional logic.

Finally, A.M. issues the official diagnosis:

DSM 1.10 — Prime Time Performance Delusion.

Sarah disputes the diagnosis almost immediately.

The Institute considers this additional evidence.

Nearly 60 years of Atlanta Falcons football. Zero requested refunds. One extremely committed patient.

60 YEARS. NO CURE.

Hometown Blues is the NFL therapy session nobody asked for. Each week, A.M. Pfeffer sits down with a fan to figure out not what's wrong with their football team — but what their football team has done to them.

New episodes every Saturday on the X-Rayted Sports Network on YouTube.