Do You Know What These Sports Acronyms Stand For?

The National Basketball Association or NBA for short is the organization of professional basketball teams in the USA. But of course, it also has a worldwide audience as a fan base.

The International Olympic Committee or IOC is the international committee in charge of the Olympics. They are in charge of both the summer and the winter Olympic games.

Mixed martial arts or MMA was created with the original objective of letting fighters with different martial arts or combat backgrounds duke it out, to see which fighting style was the greatest. But when players started to use a mix to win (or survive!), a new set of sports rules and a whole new category of contact sports, was born.

Major League Baseball or MLB is regarded as one of the oldest sports leagues in North America. In fact, it might be the oldest of 'em all.

High-intensity interval training or HIIT is a very intense cardio training session which, by its name, consists of different types of cardio exercises done alternatively. Please go see a doctor before hitting the gym for some HIIT stuff.

The National Football League or NFL is the American professional football league. Worldwide, perhaps the most popular aspect of the NFL is its yearly championship game called the Super Bowl.

When we say HOF, it means Hall of Fame. Different sports clusters have their own listing and criteria of what group or athlete should belong to their Hall of Fame.

PGA stands for Professional Golf Association. It's an official golfers' association in the US, but they're not in charge of all golfing tournaments.

ESPN means Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. The famous American sports cable channel actually broadcasts worldwide as well.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is an official stock car racing organization. An American family is in charge of it, and their base is in Florida.

WPT is World Poker Tour. It's an international poker tournament that's also broadcast on TV.

KO has entered the regular lexicon to refer to someone being knocked out or heavily punched. But its originally a term for boxing and it means an opponent gets punched falls on the mat and doesn't get up after the referee has counted to 12.

So when soccer fans or World Cup peeps say "football," they actually mean soccer. Ask FIFA, or the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, for clarification.

PiYo is the latest workout thang in the world of fitness. It combines the principles of Pilates and yoga.

The LPGA or Ladies Professional Golf Association is an American pro golfers association for female players. However, they also host tours where international players could also compete.

GOAT refers to "greatest of all time." And no, that's not just Muhammad Ali, but many athletes who proved their great worth during their heyday of play.

HT or halftime is the pause within the game, which takes place after the first half of the game has concluded, and before the second half begins. American football also has this, as well as other team sports divided into two halves.

WAGS is an acronym coined for Wives And Girlfriends of sports stars. But wait, there's more: HABS is also kinda emerging -- meaning husbands and boyfriends of female athletes. Equality is important, right?

HR means "home run" in baseball. That usually happens when a batter hits the ball outside of the game's perimeter, so the batter can run around all four bases and claim points for them.

QB or quarterback is a term used in American football. It's a very important position, and those who have held it become celebrities in their own right.

MVP often stands for "most valuable player." While basketball is a team sport, it's unavoidable that a lone player can become the MVP because of their amazing solo performance.

The Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus or SCUBA for short consists of a mechanism that a diver puts on their back and uses to breathe underwater. There's an art to carrying that thing with you, and divers earn SCUBA certifications for diving, too.

The NCAA or National Collegiate Athletic Association is an organization that regulates academic sports teams, usually at the college level. While they move like pros, NCAA athletes are still considered as amateurs since they don't get paid.

YDS means yards, so a singular yard can also be termed as YD. It's a big deal to count yards in football stats.

SO means strikeout in baseball. A strike is when a batter couldn't hit a good pitch or when they hit the ball badly; three of those kinds of blunders renders a strikeout.

TD means touchdown, or when a player scores a point. It may just be the happiest acronym for both players and fans! Go team!

MD means majority decision, meaning majority of the judges in the game favor one player to win. Their decisions usually have numerical basis, and not just whimsical in nature.

UD means Unanimous Decision. This means all of the judges in a boxing match decide on one boxer to win.

DNF means Did Not Finish. It's an official call on racers who were initially there at the start of the race but were nowhere to be found by the end of it. Tough luck!

OT or overtime is a universal term for sporting matches that have to clock in extra time for playing. It is used to determine a winner from a tie score in most cases. It's also a term used by office workers, one they don't like doing -- unless they get paid for it!

The North Pacific Ocean or NPAC by surfers is that northern part of the Pacific Ocean where huge storms cause great swells, and land on the coastlines of surf-friendly beaches found in the area. And that's swell news for surfers who love catching great waves!

An FT or free throw is a chance for a basketball player to score points all by themselves after they are subjected to a foul move by an opponent. So it's like b-ball karma.

Tennis players request for a PR or protected ranking if they want to sit out because of an injury for a few months; they can get back in the game when they've healed. This way, whatever rank they have prior to the injury will not be affected, and they can return to tournaments using their ranking.

The United States Olympic Committee or USOC is the governing body in the US that takes care of the country's participation in the Olympics and such. Each country has this kind of committee, at least those eligible to join the Olympics.

DQ generally means disqualified, like when an athlete is found to have disobeyed rules of engagement and then gets kicked out. In boxing, DQ means disqualification, but practically the same concept.