Margaret Creighton, a history professor at Bates College, came up with the idea for "Red Sox Nation: Baseball and American Culture" following the Boston's loss to the New York Yankees in the 2003 American League championship series. The course was first offered at the small liberal arts college in 2005, a year after the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918. With only 15 openings, it took only a minute or so for the class to fill up when online registration opened.