Burners. Attacks. Ryders - Inside Rico Bosco's Hype Circle
(New York, NY) - The air inside Barstool's Manhattan office felt different on Thursday. On the surface, things seemed normal—well, whatever "normal" is for the wildly unique sports entertainment company. Shows were being taped. Podcasts were being recorded. Blogs were being written. Deion Sanders was playing football around the office. Just your average Thursday.
If you looked past all that, though, you could tell something was different. Just one day prior, a secret group was discovered that left some feeling hurt, lied to, and betrayed. But how did we get here? That's what I wanted to investigate.
If you are not already familiar with the intense, years-long drama within Barstool's gambling world, I highly recommend you read this blog. Two months ago, I did a deep investigative report recapping all those beefs and the characters involved. You will need at least a rudimentary understanding of all that before reading our story today.
We start with this week's episode of the Pick Em podcast. If you missed it, you can listen in full here. I will provide a basic recap of what was discovered.
A discussion about Dave and Big Cat being true Ryders broke out. Dave said that if there was a Rico trust group, they would be in it. That's when Rico dropped the bomb. This group actually does exist via Twitter DMs and is called "Rico Ryder Trust Group." It's a group made up of Rico's most loyal Ryders that fight off skells.
Rico tried to be upfront and reveal that in the past, there have been some negative things said by the Ryders about "Skell Pres and Pledge Master Dan." But as more old messages were read, much more than that came to the surface.
Some highlights are as follows:
-Rico directing orders to the Ryders and saying: "Best tweeted from burners."
-Rico saying: "Dave coming back in next two weeks. Best time to slander."
-Rico talking about going to someone other than Dave to get a podcast approved
-Rico saying that he was, "Ashamed to work at this company" (although he later clarified that he was just having a bad day)
As you can imagine, Dave and Dan were shocked and hurt. There were so many questions. Who are these people? How did this group start? What do they do? Just how powerful are they?
I got to bottom of all that. For today's piece, I have reached out again to all the main characters involved: Rico Bosco, Dave Portnoy, Daniel Katz, Jeff Nadu, longtime Ryder Henry Lockwood, and an anonymous Ryder who is part of Rico's Twitter DM trust group. Together, they were able to fill in some of the gaps to this story and tell us more about the now infamous hype circle.
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Our story starts during the summer. Rico recalls noticing a special group of guys who always interacted with his tweets and videos, providing constant support. Bosco saw something in them and wanted to get everyone in one place. He recalls, "It started as a way to bounce ideas off followers who can give honest feedback and suggestions. Also, with me getting into different content like streams, Picks Central, trivia - I could relate where and when I was on. The hype circle really is just a collection of followers to bounce ideas off of." That's Rico's memory of the events. But was what it like to be one of the Ryders who received such a prestigious invitation?
One anonymous Ryder who Rico kindly put me in contact with had extremely fond memories of that special day. "I believe it was the middle of the summer. One day I just logged onto Twitter and I saw those 4 magic words: Rico Ryder Trust Group. At first I was hesitant, because as a Ryder, we tend to trust no one. Who were these mysterious figures behind these avatars? So I asked Rico, and he said they were his guys. So they became my guys. Collectively, we’re the guys. You just trust Rico’s word."
While the other guys in the group follow all Rico's picks, this man himself isn't even a gambler. "I’m mostly there to oversee some of the wild antics. I’m like Rico’s consigliere. I personally don’t partake in alleged burner activity/attacks, but I do assist in some of the command of the guys. For example, I made them take an oath."
An oath, you say?
Their devotion is both admirable and somewhat frightening. It became clear that these Ryders were as loyal and serious as it gets. They all realize the importance of the group and know that nothing is to be put above it. The member added, "They all understand that Rico and this group comes before anybody; their mother, their father, their wives and kids. Once you’re apart of this family, there’s no getting out."
Rico clearly has some undeniable appeal that draws all these loyal disciples in. But what is it about Mr. Bosco that has let him amass this cult-like following? This Ryder says, "What drew me to Rico was that he’s the kinda guy who roots for the good guy in the movie. He wants the guy to get the girl in the end. Honor. Family. Respecting women. Listening to Levels. For someone with so many skell enemies, he’s a great man. I’d follow him through the gates of Hell. I’ve been with him since day 1. Many years. There’s no doubt in my mind that each and every man in there would take a bullet for Rico. Some of the guys are a little wilder than others, but make no mistake every guy in there is dangerous."
So that brings us to the next part of our story. Now that we know how this group came about and what drew to them to our Staten Island friend, what exactly do they do and why are they so "dangerous"? Big Cat read off messages where Rico seemed to direct attacks at his skell enemies through the use of burner accounts, flooding mail bags, hijacking streams, and other methods. Rico did not deny that this has happened. While he insists the group is mainly just used to throw out ideas and get feedback, he did add, "I see the shots taken by others. When you have a top 20 sports podcast (this weeks chart) with five ads every week, sometimes you'd rather have the guys respond while you continue to prep for second longest running podcast in company history."
The anonymous Hype Group member backed up that it's a group to mainly talk sports and support Rico. "The group picks up Rico when he’s having a bad day. We’re always there for him. We’re a family." But he did also admit that sometimes this group must be used as a force to fight off evil.
"As far as the acts from myself and the rest of the Trust Group, or the 'hype group” as the media has chosen to call us….everyone is monitoring skell/enemy activity at all times. If you like a tweet slandering Rico, you’re toast; you’re on the shit list. Someone may or may not say some things to you somewhere that won’t be so pleasant. Despite being grown men, it could hurt their feelings a little bit. The acts are exactly what anyone would do, if someone were to attack say, their father. Hell hath no fury like a Ryder when Rico is scorned. And we are no ordinary Ryders, we are 12 of the highest ranking Ryders out of the millions on the planet. Every good army is organized."
This group is always on patrol. There are no off days when you're a Ryder. An attack on Rico can come at any point, and they need to be ready for battle. This Ryder has one last warning for the world.
But what is it like to be the subject of one of these attacks? For that answer, I talked to perhaps the #1 enemy of this syndicate: Jeff Nadu. The Philadelphia-based gambler, who Dave Portnoy once dubbed "the weirdest looking guy on the planet" was not shocked at all to learn about the Hype Group. "It's not surprising to me that it was going on. I could sense for awhile with certain DMs I got, or people on Periscope that said the same tired shit. There was something being cooked up. It's been going on since I first interviewed with Barstool a year and a half ago."
Does he live his life in constant fear? Does he sleep with one wide open? Does he have to brace himself every time he opens Twitter with fear that an army will be attacking him at every turn? He says he's not too worried about being targeted.
The next logical question is if Nadu has any sort of revenge plot planned. He denies that's the case. "People ask will I retaliate? No. I would never stoop down to those levels he did. I'll keep being me. He will face the day of reckoning with me someday. I only hope he doesn't run away like every other time he's been confronted. But that's what strappers like him do."
The anonymous Ryder denied that Jeff Nadu gets any special focus from the group. "Nadu? Never heard of it. Is that some kind of pasta sauce? Nobody in this crew buys store brand gravy. What I will say is, anyone who is a skell is subject to an attack. You don’t pick Rico as an enemy if you don’t want to get in the mud. Every man in the group is relentless."
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Despite the discovery of all the attack campaigns and burners, there was one quote from the group that seemed to stick out above the rest. One quote that seemed to cause more hurt than anything else.
On September 24th, 2020, Rico Bosco sent the following message to the Rico Ryder Trust Goup.
"Ashamed to work at this company."
-Rico Bosco
When Big Cat read that message on Pick Em, it felt like the air was let out of the room. You could hear a pin drop. They were shocked, hurt, and betrayed. Rico's defense was that he was just having a "bad day." When I reached out for comment, Rico did express remorse for making that statement.
But words hurt sometimes, and damage was done. Big Cat was stunned by the comment. "I feel hurt. I feel betrayed. More than anything, I’m just questioning what I do as a Ryder. To me, being a Ryder meant integrity when no one’s looking. So now I have to question everything I thought being a Ryder was supposed to be."
I asked Katz what about the entire situation hurt him the most. "I thought Rico truly turned a new leaf. He came in and said he doesn’t care about other people, just his content. I took him at his word. Little do I know that he had the beer hall militia, riling them up and sending out the attack dogs. The H-man did also start with a bunch of loyal guys in a beer hall."
What about Rico's defense that he was just having a bad day?
Big Cat wanted to make it clear on the record that despite all that's transpired, he is still a Ryder. “It has moved my faith as a Ryder, but I’m still a Ryder. This weekend will be the defining moment for Ryder nation. Rico has like 40 units in play. I’ll just say this, I hope it doesn't happen, but if Rico loses 15-20 units or more, I don’t think I’ll ever see him again. He won't be fired; I just don’t think he’ll ever show back up."
Portnoy expressed a similar sentiment about wanting to just focus on the future. All his answers were short, and he seemed downtrodden. Perhaps the hurt from the previous day was still lingering, but he tried to put on a strong face. He has also made it clear that he is still a Ryder. "He had a bad day. It's just a hype group with a couple of whackos. I just want to talk about the picks.”
It's clear that Katz and Portnoy can both move forward with Rico despite the discovery, but what about Hank? Some have claimed Lockwood is the OG #1 Ryder. Was he insulted that he wasn't included in the hype circle? Quite the contrary. He expressed gratitude to Bosco for giving him plausible deniability, likening it to the Bubbly Gang fiasco as Dave did on the podcast. "He was doing me a solid. I didn’t have to worry about my job security by being included in this group."
Lockwood added, "Rico said he might have gone too far and it's big of him to admit that. Everyone has their own hype circle in some way. It’s no big deal." And even despite the controversial "ashamed" quote, it's clear he will still Ryde.
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So now that the group has been unearthed, what does the future hold? The media has said some ugly things. There's been comparisons to Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, Charles Manson, and others. Rico, though, has a different comparison in mind.
It seems like everyone just wants to move forward. And if you're a Ryder hoping to be invited into this prestigious group, Rico has some bad news. "Membership is closed for the hype circle although many have inquired. We will be starting from scratch and sticking to just talking sports. Maybe some fortune cookie readings, trivia, name that tune etc. The boys deserve some down time after being at war for so long."
I ended the interview by asking the controversial, Christ-like figure if there was anything else he wanted to add. He said, "The Pick Em Podcast can be subscribed to here and releases every Wednesday. I love Kansas State and Boise State this weekend."
h/t Quigs for all the graphics