It hardly needs to be mentioned to those who have seen his sleek figure encased in stretched-to-the-limit polyester blends, but Charlie Weis had gastric bypass surgery — “stomach stapling,” another name for the procedure, sums up what the surgery entails — back in 2002. Back then, he weighed north of 350 pounds. As compared to now, when…well, look, that’s not important. What’s important is that he is supposed to be a personally charming fellow. Sorry, strike that: not a personally charming fellow. Oh, right, what’s really important is that he is suing Boston’s Mass. General Hospital for malpractice. And not for the reasons you might expect (i.e. the fact that he has ballooned back up to the point where he has other, smaller coaches orbiting around him). The preceding fat joke courtesy of UPN’s Uptown Comedy Club, ca. 1993, used without permission. The clip below comes from the Boston Globe’s Bob Hohler:

The Notre Dame football coach, then offensive coordinator for the Patriots, checked into Massachusetts General Hospital in 2002 under an assumed name.

Embarrassed by his chronic obesity, Weis planned to undergo gastric bypass surgery and quietly return home the next day, avoiding public attention.

Instead, complications developed. Weis nearly died. And now, almost five years later, he faces the prospect of every detail of his long battle with obesity and his bypass ordeal becoming public record as he goes to trial next month in Suffolk Superior Court in his medical malpractice suit against two Mass. General physicians.

…

Weis sought the procedure after watching a DVD of Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, in which he helped guide the Patriots past the St. Louis Rams, 20-17, for their first championship. He weighed nearly 350 pounds.

“I said, ‘Look at that fat ass,’ ” Weis wrote in his book. “I wish I had been looking at someone else. Unfortunately, that fat ass was me.”

Poignant stuff, and sensitively put. Weis also claims to have diminished mobility in both feet, and suffers from swelling in his lower body. The article also says that he is “estimated” to have regained at least 50 of the 100 pounds he lost after the surgery. Almost all of it, I’d reckon, in the Fupa region.