The jobs of Bulls vice president John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman appear to be safe, per K.C. Johnson’s story in the Chicago Tribune, and some fans are not happy about it. One fan in particular decided to actually do something about it.

Matt, an 18-year-old college freshman from the southwest suburbs of Chicago who asked that his last name not be used, has spent his down time organizing a protest against Bulls management.

Matt works at UPS by day and goes to school at a local community college in the afternoons. Like many Bulls fans, he’s fed up with the direction of the team and has found other fans that feel the same way.

Matt organized a protest through the Chicago Bulls’ reddit community, which has over 23,000 subscribers. The community generally shares links to articles, highlight clips and gripes. But the top link on the site has been held by Matt’s protest post. His protest is planned for March 4, the Bulls’ nationally-televised game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The reddit community has created T-shirts which they plan to wear during the game while they chant protest messages.

What is Matt’s motivation behind the protests?

“The straw that broke the camel’s back was the K.C. Johnson article the other day where he said there’s slim to no chance that GarPax gets fired in the offseason,” Matt told The Athletic in a phone conversation. “It’s really frustrating because I’ve seen it as a Sox fan and I’m glad they’ve been able to right the ship for baseball and start the rebuild.

“They’re handling [the season] in a really poor way. Hopefully they know the fans are upset, but it’s gotten ridiculous. I’m not gonna say that GarPax, they don’t know what they’re doing, they are basketball executives and we’re not. But this team just needs a new direction. They need someone else to take the team to what it used to be.”

What was the inspiration for a protest?

“Me and my friend, we were sitting around after one of our classes and we were talking about the team and how pissed off we were,” he said. “The team started to become unwatchable and I said what if we staged a protest? Why don’t we go to a game? Why don’t we get T-shirts?”

Matt was doubtful they could pull it off, but he decided to give it a try.

“It’s definitely been a lot more than I ever thought it would be,” he said. “I made that reddit post because I was sitting in my Political Science class and I was bored and I thought about what I was talking about with my friend and I’m like, I’m going to make a post. I forgot about it. That’s the first post I’ve ever made on Bulls reddit. I’ve commented here or there but that’s the first post I’ve ever made. Later that night, I had gotten off work and logged back onto reddit and was like ‘Oh my god. This blew up. What the hell happened?’”

Matt’s post was on the front page of the Bulls’ subreddit in just a few hours and the comments started pouring in.

Already had tickets to this game so will be buying the shirt and protesting the game with my wife and parents. That’s 4 of us!

I’m based in Australia but happy to buy shirts for my wife and I to support the cause #FireGarPax

Tickets and shirts purchased for my wife and I, section 309. Let’s go boys and girls.

Within 24 hours, his posts had received over 360 comments. The protest had been featured on Bleacher Report and other fan sites.

“Me and my dad and my brother, we’re all huge Bulls fans,” Matt said. “I told them about the protest and he’s like, ‘When I saw you were on Bleacher Report, I almost dropped my phone. I’m looking at the notification and thinking, ‘That’s my son.’

“I didn’t think more than 10 people would want to do it. But last time I checked, we had sold 66 T-shirts. It’s crazy how one tiny idea has really turned into something a lot bigger than that. Who knows what will happen from today until March 4 when we have it scheduled.”

There’s been plenty of criticism to Matt’s protest idea. The most common refrain is that it doesn’t make sense to protest ownership by buying tickets. Matt’s response?

“We’ve definitely thought of that and had discussions about that,” he said. “But people are always going to go to Bulls games. When you live in the third-biggest market in the country and have a team like the Bulls, it’s going to sell out no matter how pissed off fans are.”

The Bulls are once again atop the NBA attendance rankings, with an average crowd of 21,615. While the United Center is the biggest NBA arena, the Bulls are still packing above-capacity crowds, also leading the league with 103.3 percent of the listed capacity. The Bulls are also the sixth-best road draw, averaging 17,977 on the road, behind the Cavs, Warriors, Thunder, Spurs and Lakers.

“I feel that if you’re in the stadium, especially against a nationally televised game against the Clippers, they’re going to notice it and they’re going to have to be like, ‘OK, what’s going on why are they doing this?'” Matt said. “Yeah, we bought tickets and if [Jerry] Reinsdorf wants us to buy tickets, we’re gonna do it but we just feel like that’s the most visible way because if you see a bunch of guys protesting your front office, you’re going to take notice.”

What’s his ultimate goal?

“We’re really just looking for any sort of publicity,” he said. “That’s how a good protest works. People hear about it and they’re able to create their own judgment and figure out if they support it or not.”

So far, the response has been mostly positive.

“I’ve had people messaging me asking, ‘What can I do? How can I buy a T-shirt? Where do you guys want to meet up before the game? I’m coming with my wife and kids.’ It’s been really cool seeing everybody come together.”

Matt’s expectations seem fairly modest. He simply wants the Reindorfs to realize that a portion of the fan base is very unhappy as the Bulls hang onto a possible playoff berth with a 26-29 record, after a dispiriting loss Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.

“It’s a peaceful protest of the Bulls’ front office because we’re fed up with management,” he said. “We’re fed up with ownership, we want to see change and the fans’ voices want to be heard.”