Some fans in Portsmouth, Ohio still celebrate their NFL team of the early 1930s, the once-mighty Spartans (now the Detroit Lions)

Portsmouth, Ohio is a little river town now, with a population of just a bit more than 20,000. But back in the early 1930s, it was a bustling, steel and manufacturing town that had a strong pulse and one of the strongest teams in the NFL, the Portsmouth Spartans. Not many people remember the Spartans these days, but a core group of fans in the area still tries to spread the word on the Spartans, who played in a stadium that still stands. My story for ESPN.com's Playbook section: http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/8412/keeping-nfls-portsmouth-spartans-alive