This is how Pittsburgh celebrates at home. The teams win their championships elsewhere — in Baltimore or Tampa or, this time, Nashville — and then the people who call themselves Pittsburghers line Grant Street and Boulevard of the Allies and the parking garages along the way, cheering as their heroes are driven by in a victory parade.

Not all Pittsburghers are from Pittsburgh. That is one of the city’s essential truths. If you were born in one of the nearby communities, from Elizabeth to Beaver Falls to Zelienople to Eighty Four, you are one. If your parents or grandparents were born in any of those places, and then forced to depart by the collapse of the city’s industrial base, chances are good you have the city running through your veins.

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There are rewards to this association, particularly for those in love with its professional sports teams.

Wednesday’s Stanley Cup parade was the fifth such event for the city in the past dozen years; there were Super Bowl victories in the 2005 and 2008 seasons, and Stanley Cup wins in 2009 and 2016. They are mostly the same — the only difference being that it’s cold for the Steelers parades, and ironically hot when the Penguins march. But it never gets old.

“I remember it last year, and it was the best part of winning the cup,” said Patric Hornqvist, who scored the Cup-winning goal with just 1:35 left in a scoreless Game 6. “And the same thing this year.

“This is something you’re never going to forget.”

Matt Murray still is technically a rookie, although this is the second consecutive season in which he ended as the Cup-winning goalkeeper. He spoke with Pittsburgh TV station WPXI after hopping off his parade truck near the intersection of Grant and the Boulevard.

“It’s been such a ride since we won, so we haven’t really had a second to ourselves yet,” Murray said. “It’s been a blast, and we’re going to milk it for everything it’s worth and we’re going to enjoy it while it’s here.”

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Along the way to Point State Park, many of the Penguins players hopped off their vehicles to slap hands with fans, to pose for selfies, to sign autographs. Captain Sidney Crosby took the Cup off his truck near the beginning of the route, just after turning onto Grant, to allow as many fans as possible to leave their fingerprints on its surface. After Crosby temporarily turned the Cup over to Evgeni Malkin, he did the same — but only after nearly fumbling it.

“We think we’ve got a unique fan base,” coach Mike Sullivan said as he stood on the stage at the end of the parade in a jammed Point State Park. “Everybody talked about Nashville through those finals, but they’ve got nothing on Pittsburgh, I’ll tell you that.

“This team’s been through a lot, and you guys have been there every step of the way. I said a little something last year and saying if we could do this again … I wonder if we could repeat, or three-peat, should I say.”

The modern Penguins tend to be a bit more reserved than some teams when they get toward the end of their victory parades. There is no J.R. Smith going shirtless throughout, no Mark Madsen dancing on the stage, no Bryan Trottier shouting at the top of his lungs, “I feel absolutely awesome” after sliding on the soaking Three Rivers Stadium field while celebrating the Cup in 1992.

There was a reprise of radio Phil Bourque’s signature line about the Cup, first issued as a winger on the 1991 championship team: “Let’s take this down to the river, and party all summer!”

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Part of the team’s reserve stems from the fact their superstar captain is not an orator. Crosby prefers to make his pronouncements by holding the Stanley Cup over his head, which he did multiple times along the route and then again, when called upon to speak.

“Look at this scene. This is what it’s all about. We worked all year to get to this point. Thanks for your support. We couldn’t do it without you. That Game 5 is something I think we’ll all remember,” Crosby said. “Thanks for showing up today, and let’s try to do this again next year.”

Yes, he said it without an exclamation point.

He was the only player to speak.

One of the oddities that connects the city’s 13 major-league championships since 1971 is that every single one was clinched elsewhere. The Steelers’ six Lombardi Trophies, obviously, were won at neutral sites. Both of the Pirates’ World Series in the '70s were won in Game 7s at Baltimore, and all five Stanley Cups were claimed on the road: Minnesota (1991), Chicago (1992), Detroit (2009), San Jose (2016) and Nashville (2017).

In fact, through all of that there was only one opportunity for a championship to be won inside the city, when the Penguins took a 3-1 series lead into Game 5 at home in 2016. The Penguins lost, 4-2, and had to earn their championship 3,000 miles away.

That is how Pittsburgh does it: Conquer the world, then ride triumphantly through the city.