I think the last time I spoke to Prince Fielder about his father was in spring training about a year and a half ago.

I know Cecil isn't Prince's favorite topic, but we were wrapping up a pleasant interview and got to talking about his children and how spending time with them helped him forget tough days at the ballpark. Sensing an opening, I asked him "What's up with your dad? Has anything changed on that front at all?"

Without a trace of anger, wistfulness or even a flicker of emotion, he looked at me and said quietly, "Nope -- nothing has changed."

As I stood up to leave, I tossed out a follow-up: "Do you think it ever will?"

"Maybe someday," Fielder said. "You never know."

I thought about that exchange when I read Cecil Fielder's comments to reporters during an interview at the World Series.

Cecil, who manages an independent league team in Atlantic City, was asked about his relationship with his son.

"I wouldn't call it estranged, me and Prince just ain't talking," Fielder said. "We can't ever be estranged. I'm his father, he's my son. I gave that boy every opportunity to become who he is today. At some point, he's going to realize he's got some great people in his corner. People that are pulling for him."

The rift between Cecil and Prince began about four years ago and was caused by the breakup of the elder Fielder's marriage to Prince's mother and widely reported rumors of financial mismanagement.

Cecil Fielder, who is remarried with two kids, lives in Atlanta. He tried to reach out to Prince during a Brewers' visit to Turner Field, but was rebuffed.

"Things happen in your life that you might not be proud of or wish didn't happen," Cecil Fielder told reporters. "But you can't stay stuck there. You have to have enough strength to be man enough to take your lumps and keep on moving."

I don't pretend to know the ins, outs, twists or turns of the relationship between Cecil and Prince Fielder, but it makes me grateful for the harmony in my own family relationships. I know a lot of people who carry deep scars because of family battles. Anger and resentment can often lead to distance, which is a sad circumstance.

I don't know if Prince and Cecil will ever reconcile, but my hope for them -- and everyone in strained family relationships -- is that they aren't haunted by regrets.