Rays Say, ‘It Gets Better’

St. Petersburg Walking onto the field of the Tropicana feels like a scene from a classic sports movie.

The smell of the dirt lining the baseline is mixed with the faint scent of hotdogs and nachos. The domed field feels much larger when standing on the grass than it does cheering in the standsâ┚¬â€and there's an eerie feeling to the place when the massive television screen is off, its speakers are silenced and the entire space is mostly empty.

But on Aug. 23, Tropicana Field was all about positivity. That's the day the Tampa Bay Rays make a statement about anti-gay bullingâ┚¬â€and its only the ninth Major League Baseball team to do so.

Four players and head coach Joe Maddon agreed to participate in a public service announcement for the â┚¬Å”It Gets Betterâ┚¬Â campaign, the YouTube phenomenon created by columnist Dan Savage that encourages LGBT teens to push through the tough high school years and conquer adulthood.

Contributors to the campaign include people from around the world and celebrities like President Barack Obama and singer Adam Lambert.

Local mainstream media covered the Rays' announcement about the video for the past few weeks and Watermark had a story with SwellFella Productions' Jeff Klein, who directed the Rays' IGB video.

Of course, Watermark has covered similar â┚¬Å”It Gets Betterâ┚¬Â contributions from other professional sports teams in the pastâ┚¬â€although most of those stories were on our sports page and came from press releases and wire reports.

This time I had the opportunity to spent more than four hours with the filmmakers, members of our community and Rays players who stepped up to record a video with a powerful message directed at America's LGBT youth.

A slow, anxious start

Waiting outside the Tropicana at 2 p.m., there's very little activity. A few groundskeepers are milling around in golf carts and a security guard is eyeing me, wondering what I'm doing. Soon, however, the film crew shows up. Klein, along with Brian Longstrethâ┚¬â€who was instrumental in getting the Rays on board for the projectâ┚¬â€show up with camera men, sound professionals and script writer and St. Pete Pride executive director Chris Rudisill.

When asked if he's ready, Klein replies with a simple, â┚¬Å”I'm looking forward to this.â┚¬Â

Since no media was allowed to attend the taping of this PSA, Klein put me on as a member of the video crew. I was in charge of running a small Flip video camera to record behind-the-scenes video for a secondary production showing the making of the PSA.

I wasn't press and Watermark wasn't even discussed. I couldn't ask the players any interview-like questions and photos of the players were provided by the film crew, not taken by me directly.

Awaiting the Rays

By 2:30 p.m., the film crew is standing on the turf of the Tropicana Field just outside the Rays' dugout. Former St. Pete Pride co-chair and photographer David Schauer has set up the lighting rig for the shoot and soundman Bill Heller is testing the microphone. It seems there's a small problemâ┚¬â€the mic isn't picking up enough sound. Both Klein and Heller are snapping their fingers in front of it, hoping it will pick up some noise.

â┚¬Å”Worst case scenario we'll get sound from the secondary mics on the cameras,â┚¬Â Klein says, not showing any sign of worry. â┚¬Å”We'll be fine.â┚¬Â

Soon after, Heller gives Klein the thumbs up. It seems the microphone is working fine and is ready for our first Rays player, who we're told should be ready by 3 p.m.

In the meantime, we take photos of each other on the field and begin posting to our Facebook pages.

We soon learn we don't have much time for personal posts, though. Second baseman Sean Rodriguez is ready early, so he comes out and shakes hands with the members of the crew.

Meet the Rays

The handsome young player is all smiles as he meets with Klein and learns that his lines are neatly printed on cue cards held by Duffy Iorio, who most locals know from his long-time gig at Georgie's Alibi.

Klein instructs Rodriguez to read the simple statements on the cards and then asks if he could read them in Spanish. The thing is, not all the phrases translate to Spanish well, so the crew starts using their phones to find appropriate alternatives.

â┚¬Å”I could try to say that but I don't know the translation,â┚¬Â Rodriguez explains. â┚¬Å”That could be embarrassing.â┚¬Â

After some laughs, Rodriguez is ready and reads his lines loudly and with no hesitation in one take. The entire process takes less than five minutes.

When Longstreth asks Rodriguez to sign a few copies of the script, the player agrees.

â┚¬Å”That was way too easy,â┚¬Â he jokes, after signing and heading over to another cameraman awaiting an interview.

Klein is happy with the first player's participation.

â┚¬Å”He was incredibly nice,â┚¬Â Klein comments. â┚¬Å”Let's hope the rest of the day goes that smoothly.â┚¬Â

Not 15 minutes after Rodriguez completes his segment, Rays manager Joe Maddon comes out from behind the dugout, ready to read his lines.

The gruff Tampa Bay icon makes sure to pump the hand of every member of the crew before settling into position in the dugout, looking out onto the field. Within minutes, the manager reads his linesâ┚¬â€which are suspiciously similar to the lines the crew heard before. Klein later explains that every Rays player in the film will read the same cue cards, and in the finished product they'll be edited together based on who read what line the best.

After recording his contribution, Maddon is thanked and asked to sign a few items. He agrees and comments about the It Gets Better campaign:

â┚¬Å”This is an important thing. I'm happy to be a part of it.â┚¬Â

While Madden signs his name to a few items, left-fielder Sam Fuld arrives in the dugout, ready for his segment. After a quick greeting to Maddon, Fuld sits on the dugout bench and is approached by Klein, who tells him what to expect.

â┚¬Å”We're going to keep you seated here while you read the cards,â┚¬Â Klein explains.

The young player settles in and soon reads the familiar lines. After a few takes Klein is happy with what he's captured and Fuld moves on to add his signature to the items his teammates have already seen. Soon, it's quiet in the Trop as we await our remaining two Rays playersâ┚¬â€Upton and Damon.

Batting Practice

While the crew waits for the remaining two players to come to the field, Rays short-stop Evan Longoria and catcher Kelly Shoppach begin batting practice. The two popular players walk within just a few feet of us on their way to home plate, catching the attention of our all male crew.

When the crack of the bat echoes throughout the empty stadiumâ┚¬â€and since we don't have a player to record at the momentâ┚¬â€a few of us settle into the dugout and watch the two men bat. A few others take a some pictures.

While we're watching, Upton shows up in the dugout, shakes the hands of a few crew members and talks with Klein, who asks him to stand facing the railing just outside the dugout.

â┚¬Å”We're doing this one a little differently,â┚¬Â Klein explains to the men helping him out. â┚¬Å”We're going to shoot from the dugout to show more of the Trop. We'll see how this works with batting practice in the background.â┚¬Â

Upton seems almost shy at first, and speaks a bit too softly for the microphones. Fortunately, after a gentle nudging from Klein, the second take goes better and Upton is more forceful with his lines. It's another successful take and Upton follows the tradition of his teammates, stopping to sign a few things before heading back into the locker room. There's only one player left before we can take a break before preparing for a large crowd shot at 6 p.m. in the stands in right field.

Coming to life

As we await Damon, the Tropicana starts to come to life. Reporters from FOX Sports and local affiliates are milling around and a line of foster children are corralled near home plate, anxious to meet their heroes. Eventually, music starts playing through the speakers and overhead lights brighten the once dim domed stadium.

Eventually, the handsome outfielder Damon steps out of the dugout, ready to read his lines. After doing so with very little trouble, Klein asks the slugger if he would mind sharing a personal story for the campaign against bullying. Damon easily agrees.

â┚¬Å”When I was younger I stuttered,â┚¬Â Damon explains to the lens. He shares that he was teased for his speech issues but that through practice and determination, he overcame the challenge. His words are encouraging and appear to be just what Klein was looking for from the popular player.

With the Rays' segments finally caught on film, the crew heads to right field, where we await the arrival of fans to participate in a large crowd shot to close the video.

Enthusiastic fans

Shortly after 5:30 p.m., Tropicana field still remains fairly empty. However, a few familiar faces start trickling into section 134 overlooking right field.

According to Longstreth, more than 190 tickets were sold specifically for this special night, and soon, the section is alive with chatter and friends greeting each other with hugs and kisses.

Members of area sports leagues, organizations and affirming churches are everywhereâ┚¬â€as are several high school students representing their Gay-Straight Aliances.

With time running out before the stadium gets too crowded before the 7:10 p.m. start time of the game, Longstreth grabs a bullhorn and asks the early arrivers to move close together at the front of the section so the filming can begin.

The instructions are simple. On the count of three, stand up and yell, â┚¬Å”It Gets Better.â┚¬Â Then, stand up again on the count of three and yell, â┚¬Å”Let's go Rays!â┚¬Â

The crowd listens and in two takes, filming is wrapped for the day.

The video, which will only be about a minute long, will appear on YouTube by early September and will be made available to local GSAs and youth groups around Tampa Bay..

â┚¬Å”I want to thank you all for coming out and taking part in this,â┚¬Â Klein says to the crowd through the bullhorn. â┚¬Å”This is an important project and we can't thank the Rays enough for their cooperation. Now I've got some work to do.â┚¬Â