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NFL referee Ed Hochuli signals a touchdown here, but at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, kids get to make the call.

The only thing missing from the “You Make the Call” exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan is the booing.

“We hear booing a lot,” NFL VP of officiating Dean Bladino joked at the opening of the exhibit on Thursday.

Actually, there was a lot of laughter at the grand opening, with kids from P.S. 198 getting the first look at the exhibit that’s open at the Upper West Side museum through February.

While kids can do the “Zebra Dance” — a compilation of moves based on referees’ touchdown, facemask, first down and other signals — make their own flag and run an obstacle course, grown-ups can go under the hood and try to make the right call from a selection of challenged plays during recent seasons (the kids can do it too, of course).

Blandino gave The News an inside-look at the display, and while we tried to stump him on the plays, we were the ones who fumbled.

“I know these already,” he said when we asked him to make a guess if the officials got the call right the first time on a Domenik Hixon catch in a Giants-Niners game from 2012. “I’ve been prepared.”

Getting quizzed on the calls is nothing new for the Long Island native, who’s been with the NFL since 1994 and was named to the VP’s post following last season.

“Friends, relatives, the priest at my church. Kidding about the priest, but yes I get texts from friends and especially my brother David every Sunday asking about calls,” he said.

At least they don’t boo him.

READY FOR THE WORLD
Jim Spanarkel predicts the NBA could have franchises in Berlin or Beijing before too long.

“Ten years down the road, I could see NBA teams in select countries,” says the YES broadcaster, who will cross the pond this week to call the Nets-Hawks game in London on Thursday with his partner Ian Eagle.

“Basketball is such a terrific game,” the former NBA player says. “A kid can grab a ball, find a rim and make believe he is the world’s next superstar. The game is made for global expansion.”

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Spanarkel says it will be interesting to watch British fans. “It will probably be a mix,” he says. “There will probably be enough people in the building who understand basketball, as well as others who are just learning on the fly. I’m expecting an excited crowd.

“It will be fun to see who the crowd roots for,” Spanarkel adds.

He thinks the Nets will have the edge when it comes to British fans’ support, thanks to Brooklyn’s emergence as the hipster capital of the world.

“Brooklyn — it is a name everyone knows,” he says.

MAC ATTACK
Tennis’ elite players have flocked to warm and sunny Melbourne, Australia for the start of the Australian Open Monday. And while the weather in New York has been nothing of the sort, hundreds of local students are still afforded the opportunity to become acquainted with the sport during the wintertime through the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.

Based at the Sportime Randall’s Island Tennis Center, the Academy began in 2010 with eyes on developing young, talented tennis players. Its community outreach program has grown each year with the help of Outreach Director and Academy Pro Jamie Moore.

Primarily working with students from Harlem and the Bronx Monday through Friday throughout the school year, the Academy is on target to provide 2,500 hours of instruction both onsite at the 20-court facility and offsite at some schools in East Harlem. The Academy works mostly with grammar school and middle school students, plus two high schools — about 300 total students per week — and hopes to broaden its program moving forward.

John’s younger brother Mark is the Managing Director of the Academy.

“We work with Randall’s Island Park Alliance, our landlord, and the Board of Education; the kids get put on buses and come here, and we provide an introductory kind of experience for these various classes of kids,” Mark tells The Score. “We like to work with a school and get a specific class of kids, 20 to 40 kids, and have them once a week during the school year.”

A handful of students earned scholarships for the after-school Academy, an opportunity available for those who have the ability, though that isn’t the main goal of the program. The chief aim is to introduce more kids to tennis.

“We don’t expect after nine months we’re going to turn any of those kids into (McEnroe),” Mark said. “But our hope on the community level is we’ll expose some kids who wouldn’t otherwise think about picking up a tennis racket.”

To find classes in your area, check out the Daily News Events Calendar

Author: BERNIE AUGUSTINE, MICHAEL O’KEEFFE, JUSTIN TASCH

Photo: Al Messerschmidt/Getty