What are the chances that your kid will get an athletic scholarship at a school where you want them to be academically? It can happen but its more rare than just getting an athletic scholarship somewhere. And there are some athletes with talents that get them above where they should be academically. Though that is very rare. If its your only option for going to college, makes sense though.
And ultimately, I am not sure it makes sense to say that some athlete parents are delusional but there are other non-athlete parents who are also delusional. Delusional is bad. That others are also delusional doesn’t make it less delusional.