ATLANTA – With one of the defining games in Atlanta's history only days away, there's a shirt making the rounds in Atlanta that sums up the city's mood effectively enough. It's a stark black-and-white picture of local product Samuel L. Jackson as Jules from "Pulp Fiction," with Afro and huge pistol at the ready. Bracketing Jules are three words. "Rise up," the Falcons' 2012 motto, are two. The third? Well, it starts with an "M," it's got 12 letters, and the mid-word "F" is a Falcons logo.

Yep. Rise up, mother... At long last. With the 49ers at the door and possible citywide affirmation just beyond, that's where Atlanta's at right now.

The city of Atlanta is beginning to believe in Matt Ryan, left, Jason Snelling and the Falcons. (Getty Images)To understand how Atlanta is approaching this Falcons game, you have to have an appreciation for where this city's been. Long derided as one of the worst sports towns in America, Atlanta fans have more reason than you can imagine for not showing up to playoff games, for not out-shouting the opposition, for giving up and going home in the seventh

(Getty Images)Two of the most astonishing hoaxes in sports history are about to unfurl within hours of each other.

On one hand, you have Lance Armstrong, one of the most heralded and decorated athletes of all time, revealing that his decade-plus reign at the top of the cycling world was a drug-abetted fraud.

On the other, you have Manti Te'o, the Notre Dame linebacker whose story of endurance and triumph in the face of personal tragedy is classic sports Americana. But that, too, is a fraud; the girlfriend in whose honor Te'o posted one of college football's all-time great seasons turns out not to even exist.

Both men are getting the opportunity to air their sides of the story. On Monday, Armstrong taped a confessional interview with Oprah Winfrey. But in an unfortunate editorial decision, the interview would not air for three days, just as the Te'o story is presenting an avalanche of questions that deserve answers.

[Y! TV: When to watch Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah]

Two

Jan Ullrich (Germany, silver), Viacheslav Ekimov (Russia, gold) and Lance Armstrong (USA, bronze). (Getty Images)

Just days after the International Olympic Committee suggested that Lance Armstrong's revelations of performance-enhancing drug use could prompt the removal of cycling from future Olympic Games, the IOC has stripped Armstrong of his 2000 Olympic bronze medal.

[Y! TV: When to watch Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah]

Armstrong won the bronze in the road time trial event in Sydney, just two months after winning his second Tour de France. The IOC sent Armstrong a letter Wednesday night demanding the return of the medal.

The IOC apparently debated revoking the medal in December, but decided to wait until the International Cycling Union (UCI) formally stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles. Armstrong had 21 days to appeal that decision, and did not do so.

"Having had confirmation from UCI that Armstrong has not appealed the decision to disqualify him from Sydney, we have written to him to ask for the return of the bronze medal," IOC spokesman Mark Adams told the AP. "We

ATLANTA – Seconds after the Atlanta Falcons finally closed out Seattle in the NFC divisional playoffs, Atlanta kicker Matt Bryant jogged off the field and down the tunnel toward the Falcons' locker room. Under his arm he'd tucked the ball he'd just kicked for the winning score. It's surely destined for a place of honor in his home.

The fate of the ball he kicked right before that, however, is unknown. That ball sailed wide right, but thanks to a timeout called by Seahawks coach Pete Carroll just before the ball was hiked, it had no more impact on the final score than a warm-up kick – which, of course, is exactly what it was.

In the locker room, still wearing the determined scowl that earned him the nickname "Grumpy" from his teammates, Bryant answered variant after variant of the same question: Were you nervous? What were you thinking out there? Did the timeout Carroll called right before your first attempt bother you?

"We've been in this position before," he said. "You focus on

Lance Armstrong displays his bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. (Getty Images)Fallout from Lance Armstrong's revelations of doping, to be disclosed in an Oprah Winfrey television interview on Thursday, could end up costing cycling a spot in future Olympic Games.

[Dan Wetzel: Questions Oprah should have asked Lance Armstrong]

Still unknown in the Armstrong revelations is whether he will implicate others along with himself. If indeed Armstrong tries to take others, particularly the sport's governing body, down with him, the International Olympic Committee may have no choice but to keep cycling out of the Games.

"We could say, 'look, you've clearly got a problem why don't we give you four years, eight years to sort it out," Dick Pound of the IOC told Reuters. "And when you think you're ready come on back we'll see whether it would be a good idea to put you back on the program."

Pound has experience in these matters, as he formerly led the World Anti-Doping Agency. He indicated that the UCI, cycling's governing body, has not taken sufficiently strong action, and

Check this out: a Ray Lewis-themed laser light show at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. It began this weekend, and will presumably continue as long as the Ravens win in the playoffs.

Our take: nice, but cuts off way too fast to be accurate. This show needs to go on another five minutes, long enough to motivate and then annoy you.

For comparison's sake, here's the final dance Lewis prepared for the Baltimore home crowd a couple weeks back:

Baltimore faces New England this Sunday at 6:30 ET in the AFC Championship.

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

[Laser video via Bob's Blitz]

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Arrowhead Stadium, Dec. 1, 2012. (Getty Images)

The Jackson County (Mo.) Medical Examiner's office has released autopsy results for Jovan Belcher and Kasandra Perkins, marking some of the final elements of the murder-suicide in Kansas City last December. Belcher murdered Perkins at their shared home, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and killed himself in front of several Chiefs executives.

The most significant finding of the report was that Belcher had a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 at the time of his death, more than twice the legal limit for intoxication in Missouri. The significance of this is obvious in the impairment of judgment. However, it also indicates Belcher almost certainly was intoxicated when police awoke him as he was sleeping in his car outside the apartment of Brittni Glass, about four hours before the time of the murder. Police roused him and sent him to Glass' apartment to sleep it off; clearly, unless he consumed other alcohol at some point later in the morning, he was highly intoxicated.

The report indicates that Perkins was shot in the neck, chest (twice), abdomen, hip, back, both legs and the right hand, for a total of nine gunshot wounds.

Below, via Deadspin, are the autopsy reports for both Belcher and Perkins.

ATLANTA – In the minutes after their dramatic 30-28 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, the Falcons locker room was a heady mix of elation, anticipation and aw-yeah-we-weren't-worried bravado Sunday. Sure, they'd frittered away a 20-point lead, surrendered a go-ahead touchdown and won on a field goal/interception combo in the final seconds, but hey, a win is a win, right?

Player after player repeated the mantra "We'd been here before," and it's true, they had been in situations where they needed to come from behind to win. Most teams that go 13-3 don't win every game easily.

Kicker Matt Bryant (3) reacts to his game-winning field goal against the Seahawks. (AP)This wasn't just coming from behind, though. This was nearly a franchise-defining choke, a loss that – and this is not exaggeration – would have haunted the Falcons' fan base for a generation. Everyone could breathe easily and laugh about what hurdles they'd just cleared, that gut-clenching terror at the thought of a humiliating loss releasing as booming laughter.

So it fell to cornerback Dunta